


The Witching Hour

by Squippy420



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: (Have I spelt that right?), Arthur actually has one (1) braincell that he uses on occassion, Curses, Guys running around trying to stop a curse, Labyrinths, Lancelot's alive because I said so, M/M, Merlin's Magic Revealed (Merlin), Merlin's also smart but not that smart, Oblivious Merlin (Merlin), Pining Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), This is my first attempt at a horror story, Uther is dead because he's a prick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:40:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 50,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25754482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squippy420/pseuds/Squippy420
Summary: (Work previously named World of Silence)When everyone in Camelot wakes up one morning to find they've lost their sense of hearing, the whole kingdom starts to panic. Merlin tells Arthur of the dreams he's been having, about six corpses with no necks. At first, the prince doesn't know what to make of this, but it doesn't take long before he finally gets the idea. When the clock strikes midnight, they come out, hungry for blood. It's a race against time as Arthur and Merlin frantically try to stop the Witching Hour, where no one can hear you scream.
Relationships: Gwen/Lancelot (Merlin), Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 28
Kudos: 105





	1. Everything's still

A full moon was quite common in Camelot.

Since it was becoming the later half of the year, people were inside a lot quicker, hastily lighting candles and torches in the street to fight off the bitter air that, no matter what, still managed to sneak in through the nooks and crannies, causing the flames to flicker and stretch shadows onto the walls of the houses. No matter how quickly the parents managed to fall asleep, the children would always shiver and wrap the covers around them, watching with morbid curiosity the strange dance that the shadows would perform every night. Sometimes, just sometimes, the children would run up to their parents and shake them, insisting that, every so often, they saw one of the shadows smile.

The full moon would paint everything in an ethereal light, shadows sometimes sneaking out of the houses and painting the streets, stretched and deformed in the moonlight. As soon as the moon was in the air, everything died. Laughter gradually turned into quiet snores, the busy chatter of the market turned into the pattering off rats and the cheerful music of bards turned into the lonely plight of a songbird, until eventually he gave up and dived into the trees, scared of the shadows that seemed to be watching him.

Whether it be flames causing the shadows to dance, the water making the shadows move, the trees seeming to envelop themselves in shadow or the moon trying to mangle them into twisted shapes, the shadows ruled over the kingdom at night. In the cold, empty streets of Camelot, nothing else was alive.

What wasn't quite so common in Camelot was the figure that appeared that night.

The bells struck midnight soon enough, though no one was around to hear it. Everyone from servants with secrets to princes with attitude problems were asleep, ignorant to the shadows that celebrated in the very streets of the kingdom that the prince would one day be destined to rule over. The servant, as long as the shadows had no immediate plot to kill the prince, was otherwise fine in letting them roam around. For once, with no threat to the prince, he had the opportunity for a full night's sleep, and was going to make the most of it, smiling at the knowledge that the prince was safe.

What he didn't take into account was the threat to himself.

The shadows shied away from the moonlight the second it reached the highest point in the sky. They writhed around the dusty pathways, looking for somewhere to hide. They grouped around a building and hugged one another for warmth, hiding from the cold moon's glare. They piled on top of each other, stretching and twisting themselves into a shape they had never made before, one that been unable to see the light for hundreds of years.

The figure was shaped to look somewhat like a human female, but she knew that she was nowhere close. She didn't bother to fix the mistakes though, she knew it wouldn't matter soon.

The shadows giggled and writhed under her grey, rotting skin, but she shushed them. They had work to do.

She couldn't take to long, she had to report her findings to her sisters after all, so she couldn't walk. Instead, she levitated herself a few feet of the ground, the white dress that shone in the moonlight flapping in the slight breeze.

" _Sisters? Are you there?_ " She called into the shadows of her mind.

She got no reply, but she knew they were busy. She felt their presence in the back of her mind as a cheap imitation of a smile stretched across her face.

She quickly spotted the looming Camelot castle that towered before her. There, she could feel the magic flowing towards her, begging for someone to take it and make it their own.

She floated gracefully towards the pull of magic, her white dress flowing behind her.

Sneaking past the guards was easy. They didn't have the intoxicating smell of magic on them, so there was no need to kill them. As she waited for them to pass, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. She did so want to hear someone's screams tonight. It wasn't her fault only a sorcerer's screams seemed to do her any good.

" _Sister, no!_ " Came a chiding in her head, " _Not now. Not when people can still hear their screams._ "

The figure frowned, but she knew her sister was right. If she were to kill someone now, people would come running in an instant.

" _Stick to the plan._ " The shadows hissed in her head, " _Give the final victim the dream. Then we can finally get started on the spell._ "

The figure sent an affirmation before the guards passed around the corner and she was free to float towards the castle once more. When she neared, the shadows inside her fell apart and she was back on the ground, her shadows moving with expertise out of the guards' line of sight, since it wasn't the dancing shadows that they were looking for.

She was in the castle courtyard when her shadows regathered, and the white dress fell to her knees once more and she continued her way inside the castle.

The castle was covered in a warm light, but the torches simply made the shadows feel more at home. Whenever a guard walked past, the figure would simply bend her shadows to be like the ones of that were dancing on the wall. She stared at them intently as they passed, but couldn't smell a trace of magic on them. She couldn't help but frown.

In this place that reeked of magic, why did no one seem to have it?

Her shadows stopped briefly as a thought occurred to her.

Perhaps all this power belonged to one person.

Him. She had to hear him. No matter what happened, she wanted to hear them him.

" _The power here sister..._ " She thought in wonder as her shadows all eagerly travelled to along the halls, desperate to get to where the magic was coming from.

" _Yes?_ " Came the impatient reply.

" _I think it all belongs to one person._ " She echoed as her shadows made their way up different staircases. They would reconvene outside of the sorcerer's room.

" _Good. Then he shall be our final victim. Give him the dream._ " The voice decided. The woman wanted to reply, but she could already feel her sister leave her. She grinned. Giving him the dream. That would be seal his fate one way or another. Maybe not tonight, but soon. She was looking forward to it.

As she made her way up the stairs, she wondered what this person would be like. A strong person. Very secretive, if he had lived this long in a world that forbade magic. Very clever as well, to have outwitted the king for this long. Handsome, perhaps? Quiet, maybe, even though he had a lot to say. The figure smiled at the thought. Those who had a lot to say were definitely screamers. 

Her shadows gathered outside a room with big, double doors. They were posh and large, with two guards standing outside. She couldn't form in front of them, so her shadows watched them cautiously.

The guards stood still, unbeknownst to the shadows that were hovering on the wall right in front of them. They were silent, staring straight ahead at all times. However, since they were used to the shadows moving in the torchlight, they didn't find anything suspicious about the shadows that were slinking up to the ceiling and out of their peripherals.

The shadows giggled at their ignorance and contemplated killing them. They may not be able to hear the screams, but surely some blood couldn't hurt.

The lead shadow, the biggest of them all, silenced their pleads, promising them blood in the days to come. For now, though they had a sorcerer to find.

Slowly, excited to see what they would find, the shadows crept under the door and into the room where the magic was strongest.

The shadows grouped together again into their impression of a human woman and floated further into the room. She couldn't help but frown. Why would a sorcerer in hiding have such a large room? Surely he'd want to draw as little attention to himself as possible. Why was this the room that reeked of magic?

She wondered further in, scowling at the Camelot armour that lay in a heap on top of the hamper. A Camelot knight? In a room full of magic? The figure had never heard of such a thing.

She surveyed the room in full, half-expecting to find a magical instrument or a spell book lying around somewhere that would point her in the right direction.

Instead, she found nothing but a messy room belonging to a prince, a golden circlet shining on the bedside telling her of his status. Her frown deepened. Why would someone who played such a titular role in ruling a kingdom have such an inept servant? It made no sense.

"Merlin..."

The woman split apart into shadows and dove under the bed as the figure above her moved slightly.

The shadows looked up to see someone turning in the bed, his deep, rhythmic breaths telling the shadows that he was still asleep.

"Merlin, don't rub the oil onto the sausage, it'll taste weird..."

Was there anyone else in the bed? The shadows made sure, but there was only one dent. Whoever the prince was talking about, he was dreaming.

After a few minutes of silence, the shadows crept out again and reformed into the woman. She tilted her head curiously, clumps of black, matted hair swinging limply at her side as she regarded the prince.

He was sleeping soundly, just like everyone else in the castle. If his eyes were to open they would be staring right at her golden ones, which burned and never blinked. Her face was inches away from his, and yet he never showed any sense of alarm of fear. Then again, he didn't need to. He wasn't the one she wanted to hurt. When she looked closer, she could tell that the prince had no signs of magic on him, and was therefore not the person she was looking for. However, there had to be some sort of clue somewhere.

"Merlin..."

There it was again. The prince licked his lips as he said the word, his voice an octave deeper than it was before. The woman hovered back slightly, eyeing the restless figure as his breathing became laboured. Clearly his dream had taken a turn.

She watched curiously as the prince muttered the name several more times. What was so enticing about this... Merlin? He was clearly important to the prince.

She looked around the room, the magic that was swirling inside it throbbing at her very skin. If not a spell book or an amulet, someone must have been here. Day in and day out.

Someone like a servant.

The figure regarded this new idea and used her mind's eye to find where this servant was. She grinned maliciously as her shadows found what she was looking for. As long as there were shadows there, she would find it. And everything always had a shadow.

She turned back towards the prince, who was now moaning a little. If this Merlin was who she thought he was, then there was no way the prince knew. Not if he shared the same opinions as his father. Grinning to herself, she fell back into the shadows and left the room, leaving the prince to his 'Merlin.'

Her shadows continued to sweep along the floor, sneaking around the corners and checking for any knights before making their way down the hall again. The shadows could see the way to this Merlin inside their heads, and they had split up slightly so that none of the guards would suspect a large shadow.

The lead shadow, the biggest one, was the slowest of all, as he took several detours. What if they were wrong? What if there were other sorcerers in this place as well? The shadow deemed it unlikely, but he couldn't help but make sure. He snuck under the doors of several chambers, inspecting the air for any magic, but there was none. There were the occasional sparks that intrigued the shadow, but he made them out to be nothing more than potential, and didn't give them any more thought than that. After all, they had already found all the magic they needed in that one serving boy. 

The shadow is about to make a turn down the hallway when he retreats suddenly at the sound of laughter. Quickly, he glides towards the nearest torch and throws himself on the wall opposite, imitating the dance that the other shadows were doing.

"I'm not going to the tavern with you!" The shadow heard a voice laugh, "I'm in enough trouble with the prince as it is!"

"That's only because you broke your lance." Another voice was heard, "Maybe a drink or ten will take your mind of it!"

"The answer's no, Gwaine." Came the fond refusal, "And I advise you to do the same. You know how grumpy the prince can get, you don't want to get on his bad side."

"Well, maybe I'll just have to invite the prince along as well!" The two knights were walking around the corner. Since they were smiling and talking merrily, they didn't seem to be on duty. The shadow watched them thoughtfully as he sensed the servant's magic on them. Were they friends of his?

"I don't think that's such a good idea." The stronger man held Gwaine back, "Both the prince and Merlin retired a few hours ago. You don't want to... you know."

Mentions of Merlin again. And mentions of him being asleep. Things kept getting easier and easier.

"Wait you mean... together?" Gwaine narrowed his eyes, "Finally?"

"No, idiot!" The taller man slapped his arm, "I was on duty when Merlin was dismissed. Arthur looked... distracted."

"I bet." Gwaine snickered, "I honestly don't know what's taking them so long."

The other knight slapped his arm, "Gwaine!"

"What?" Gwaine said, "Admit it, Percival, we've all thought about it once or twice."

The other knight, Percival, seemed to open his mouth in objection, then slowly closed it as he agreed with Gwaine, "You don't have to put it so... crudely, though."

"Well, all that romantic sap just takes all the fun out of it, don't you think?" Gwaine slapped Percival's back, "What we need to do is get those two really drunk and then-"

"Goodnight, Gwaine." Percival put an end to their conversation, nodding to him and walking in the other direction.

"But-" The other knight tried.

"Goodnight, Gwaine." Percival laughed again.

"You don't know what you're missing out on!" Gwaine called as Percival walked away.

"I'm sure I'll be fine." Percival snickered as he walked around the bend and out of sight.

The shadow watched curiously as Gwaine stood in the hallway for a little while, laughing to himself. As Gwaine went the other way, the shadow wondered if it would be wise to kill him. Perhaps he would wake up Merlin and take him to the tavern. Perhaps he would make this whole ordeal a lot harder.

The shadow decided that it would be best to follow the knight for a little bit. It crawled up onto the ceiling and slinked after him. The knight, clueless to what was happening, started humming to himself tunelessly.

However, after a while, the shadow saw that he was making his way to one of the many exits in the castle, and that he hadn't intended to go to this Merlin after all. The shadow berated himself a little for allowing time to be wasted, before gliding towards the room where this serving boy was, the map still fresh in his mind.

It wasn't long before he had climbed up another staircase and was now in the company of his friends. They swirled around him for a bit, scolding him for being a few minutes behind schedule. The shadow shrank back a little in apology, but there was little harm done. With a little look around, the shadows noticed that there weren't that many guards around, but they weren't surprised. They supposed that all their efforts would need to be focused on the prince and the king, not on a different tower entirely.

The shadows writhed together in excitement as they once again gathered in their cheap imitation of a human woman. She could feel the magic now, pulling her in, daring her to challenge the might of the most powerful sorcerer to have ever lived.

She gave an animalistic growl as she accepted the challenge. The door swung open silently for her, without so much as a creak, and she glided in. 

The moon had snuck in to spy on her, but she paid it no mind. The light bathed the room in an ethereal glow, banishing all shadows in the room but her own. The woman frowned as she looked around the room. This wasn't where a serving boy would sleep.

Bottles, antidotes and remedies of all kind lined the shelves, their names lit up by the moon itself. There were several desks that were littered with books on all subjects, the occasional dirty bowl and handwritten letter donning a desk that was closest to the storeroom.

The only sound in the room were the deep, slow snores of an old man. Magic came off him in gentle waves, but the woman wasn't paying attention.

Despite the mess in the room, despite the scattered layout, there was one straight line that led her to the doorway opposite her. The storeroom. That's where she would find her servant.

She glided across the room without a sound, her white dress floating behind her, shining in the pale moonlight.

The storeroom door swung open without a word and she was met with darkness. The only source of moonlight in this room was a thin streak of it that shone upon the servant's bed. The rest of the room was cloaked in shadow.

The door shut softly behind her and she glided towards this sorcerer, this servant, this boy.

The moon framed his face in light. Dark, raven hair covered his forehead slightly, casting shadows on his pale cheeks, so small they were practically non-existent. The moon was trying to light him in this portrayal of innocence, but the creature wasn't falling for it.

On her fingertips, she felt her dream manifesting, promising six days of nightmares and suffering.

What was the boy dreaming about currently? The woman touched a bony, clawed finger that was enveloped in grey, rotting skin to the boy's head.

She wasn't surprised when images of a golden prince filled her head, and she couldn't help but scowl. When she looked down at the boy, she was filled with disgust to find that he was smiling.

" _Sister._ " She called into her head, " _This child of magic has been made weak._ "

" _You should be rejoicing, dear sister._ " Her sister replied in her head, " _He has made our plans much easier. What ails him?_ "

" _Love._ " The woman practically spat, " _Man's cheap imitation of magic._ " 

Their was silence as her sister gathered her thoughts, and the woman knew she was shivering with as much disgust as she was.

" _Take it._ " She snarled, " _Take his love and replace it with hate and anguish._ "

" _Gladly, dear sister._ " The woman's excuse for a mouth stretched into a wide grin, filled with far to many pointed teeth, " _He shall be screaming for us soon enough._ "

With that, she placed her full hand onto the servant's forehead and she watched in anticipation as the dream she had been planning out so very carefully for decades sank into his head, ripping away the images of his knight in shining armour and replacing them with screams and blood. 

When the woman looked down at him again, the servant had a frown upon his face, and her smile grew all the more wider when she heard a slight whimper escape his throat.

" _My work here is done, sister._ " She announced as she watched the servant writhe and sob beneath her hand, " _I shall be joining you shortly._ "

The creature could feel her sister's presence leave her, and she smiled for a little while as she watched the servant suffer for a few more minutes.

However, when she finally removed her shrivelled and withered hand, the servant's eyes snapped open. The creature recoiled when she saw that they were the colour of burning gold.

Before she knew what was happening, she felt a sharp pain to her chest as she toppled to the ground. When she tried to fall back into her shadows, she realised with horror that a spell was keeping her in place.

She looked up as the sorcerer loomed over her, his golden eyes the last thing she'll ever see.

"Nice try." He snarled, and then, with a sickening crunch, the woman heard her neck snap and then all she could see were shadows.


	2. still until

"Gaius!"

Gaius's eyes forced themselves open at the alarm that was present in Merlin's voice. He sat up in bed just in time to see the young boy burst out of the room, eyes wide with fear.

"Merlin? What's wrong?" Gaius asked as he clambered out of his bed. As he did so, he could have sworn he saw a shadow racing across the room, but when he blinked it was gone. Gaius dismissed it as a flicker of the one of the candles Merlin was now setting alight.

"There's something you need to see!" Came the boy's reply as the candles in the room came to life. Without another word, he ducked his head and went back into his room. Gaius followed when he heard an exclamation of surprise.

"What is it?" Gaius asked as he clambered the steps into Merlin's room. What he saw was the same as always: cluttered shelves and a messy desk. Honestly, with all the cleaning Merlin did it was a wonder to Gaius how Merlin's room still managed to look like the stables.

"She was here!" Merlin exclaimed, making an exaggerated gesture to the floor, "She was right here, and now she's..."

Merlin let the sentence trail off as he shook his head in bewilderment and fear, running his hand through his head. Without another word, he was suddenly on his chest and looking underneath his bed.

"She? What?" Gaius stared at Merlin impatiently, not sure if he should be worried or not, "Merlin, could you please tell me what's going on?"

"There was a woman!" Merlin got up from underneath the bed, "I woke up from and she was just... there! Until she... wasn't?"

"You were attacked?" Gaius' eyes scanned for any injuries, "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine, it's just..." Merlin paused, frantically trying to calm down. It didn't take long, however, and Gaius was reminded just how many other times Merlin had been attacked in the night, "This woman. Whoever she was, whatever she wanted, I killed her."

Merlin was now pacing the room. Gaius, used to Merlin gathering his thoughts, watched patiently, going over all he knew about female sorcerers who couldn't be killed. Everything led to one person.

"Morgana?" He asked, "She knows who you are?"

"No, it wasn't Morgana, it... I don't think it was even human." Merlin shivered, rubbing himself for warmth. He perched himself on the bed and stared at the spot where the body had been. Gaius, mind riddled with questions, draped Merlin's blanket over the boy's shoulders and sat down to join him.

"Not a sorcerer..." Gaius muttered to himself, once more rifling through his knowledge, "A creature perhaps?"

"I think so." Merlin shot him a grateful smile for the blanket and wrapped it around himself, "It's just... when I woke up, she had her hand on my forehead. I think she was doing something to me."

Gaius frowned, immediately checking Merlin's forehead for his temperature, "Do you feel different?"

"No." Merlin smiled briefly, gently batting Gaius' hand away, "I'm not sick, just... something happened when I was asleep."

Gaius looked at him cautiously, reluctantly withdrawing his hand, "You think she harmed your powers?"

"I don't think so." Merlin shook his head, "I feel fine. It's just... before I woke up, I remember my dream changing."

"Dreams..." Gaius muttered bitterly, "A reflection of a person's true thoughts and feelings. To change them means that the creature was very powerful indeed." 

"Isn't that nice..." Merlin muttered as he pondered this new information.

"What were you dreaming about?" Gaius asked, "Perhaps it was some kind of prophecy."

"I'm not sure." Merlin bit his lip as he went over the dream in his head, "It felt so real at the time, but now..."

Gaius waited patiently as Merlin once more ran his hands through his hair.

"There was... blood." Merlin started, "And screaming... there were, um... corpses, a knife, but..."

"No one you knew?"

Merlin shook his head, "No."

"It didn't feature this woman at all?"

Merlin shook his head again, "No."

"That is strange." Gaius mumbled to himself, "Dreams are almost always compiled of people and places you know, so why..."

"There was something else." Merlin spoke up again, his voice shaking a little, "I couldn't hear anything."

Gaius looked at him oddly, not sure what to make off this new information, "You mean all you saw were images?"

"No." Merlin choked a little, shaking his head, "I saw people screaming, people crying, but I couldn't hear any of it."

"I see." Gaius nodded slowly. He flicked through every book about creatures he could remember, every piece of information that he'd learnt, but nothing came to light, "I don't think I've ever heard of that. Are you sure the dream changed? What were you dreaming about before?"

"Nothing." Merlin answered quickly. In the candlelight, Gaius could see a blush creeping up Merlin's neck, and he immediately had his answer.

"Right." Gaius said, knowing that Merlin knew he didn't believe him.

"But it has to be some sort of prophecy, right?" Merlin said, "All these things are going to happen?"

"I'm not entirely certain." Gaius sighed, "But we must look into it, just to be sure."

"Right." Merlin stood up, crossing the room to his door, "I'll start on one shelf and you start on the other?"

Gaius looked up at him, "Merlin?"

The boy turned around and glanced at him impatiently, clearly eager to get some answers.

Gaius raised his eyebrow, "I meant in the morning."

"Oh." Merlin stepped back a little, nodding slowly, "Right. Yes. Off course."

Gaius couldn't help but chuckle at the boy's enthusiasm, wondering for all the world how the prince had ever got the impression that Merlin was lazy. He stood up to leave as Merlin climbed back onto his bed. Before Gaius stepped out of the door, he turned back to his ward one last time, "Oh, and Merlin?"

Merlin looked up at him.

"If the creature or the dreams are to come back, could you tell me in the morning?"

Merlin nodded, giving him a brief smile that they both knew was false, "Off course."

Gaius gave a fond smile to the boy and stepped out off the room. Then, as he closed the door softly behind him, he grabbed one of his candles and held it to the bookshelves, carefully reading the wording on the spines. When he eventually got to one about dreams, he took it down and walked over to the table.

Right then. To work.

0=II==========>

It took a while, but Merlin was eventually able to calm down and go back to sleep. Before he did, however, he spent a great deal of time looking at the moon, his eyes shining in the light that he was bathed in. The light was so pure, so bright, that he couldn't help but wonder what else the moon could see, and what else was going on in this very same light.

Meanwhile, far far away from his curious mind, a group huddled deep in the forest, cloaked in the very same moonlight that had so fondly enveloped the servant.

The shadows flew towards them and gathered in the centre. Ignoring the disapproving glares of their sisters, the shadows combined and took the form of the woman who had snuck into the Camelot castle. Her neck had been forced back into it's position, but she had received a few violent scars because of it.

" _I have returned._ " She spoke, still inside her head. Thanks to that wretched curse, none of them could speak. But they had a plan now. A plan that would change everything. News as good as that was enough to a plaster a wide, manic smile onto anyone's face.

Her sisters obviously did not feel the same, and even though they were cursed with the same painted smile, she could feel the disappointment in their eyes.

" _You grew careless, sister._ " One of their voices echoed inside her head, " _He could have killed you._ "

" _He did not._ "

" _If he had known the correct way of killing you, he would have done it._ "

The woman snarled. She knew her sisters were right, and deep down, she herself knew it. She had felt the magic inside the room. She had felt the sheer power of it. It had been so easy to kill her. If that had happened before she had implanted the dream then their plan would have failed.

" _He's just a boy._ " The woman scowled in reply, but her sisters shook their heads. They may not have felt his power for themselves, but they knew the legends of Emrys. There wasn't a single magical creature who hadn't.

" _Be thankful that you had succeeded in time._ " Her sister spoke, " _If the plan had failed, then we would have had to find someone less powerful._ "

The woman felt her fellow sisters shiver at the thought. Her sister continued, " _However, since you have succeeded, we will reap the benefits of Emrys' power._ "

The woman bowed as the sisters around her clapped, grinning hungrily at each other. They would need to take other people first, off course, but that final meal...

" _And now._ " The lead sister, the tallest of them all, held up her hands, " _The moment we've been waiting for._ "

The woman floated to her place in the circle as the others all watched their eldest sister in anticipation. They kept their beady, golden eyes on her as a small box appeared in her clawed hands.

It was a small and brown, hardly interesting to the eye. The woman figured they could hide this anywhere, anywhere in the world and no one would ever be able to find it. It was just so... plain.

" _Sisters, join me._ " The eldest said as she held the box up to the moon, " _For thousands of years we have waited for this day where we will regain our powers. Now, the day has finally come._ "

The moon took the box out of the eldest's hand and the sisters joined hands as the small box floated there in the centre of their joined circle, the moon watching over them in interest.

" _For many centuries the moon has had to listen to us practice our prayer._ " The eldest sister's voice echoed in their heads as they all fixed their eyes onto that small, boring box, " _And now, the moon will listen to us one last time and give us what we wish._ "

As they all stared at the box, the sisters started chanting in unison, their voices echoing and bouncing around inside their on heads:

**The first one will be sure but can still bewitch**

**The second one will be poor but will still die rich**

**The third one is kind but will die alone in a ditch**

**The fourth one will regret**

**The fifth one will redeem**

**Either way, it'll all be over when the final one screams**

**We've no choice**

**We need our voice**

**These six will die in agony as part of our scheme.**

The box glowed as the moon bathed it in light. Markings of the old religion were revealed on the box as the chant grew louder and louder, sealing the victims' fate. 

Far away, in the castle, Merlin twitched slightly, the chant playing over and over again in his head as he watched them all in his sleep.

The sisters all watched as the marks grew brighter and brighter. They were all shaking now, the magic of the moon and the shadows all flowing through their joined circle, making their way to the box, which was now opening excruciatingly slowly.

Slowly, finally, the box opened completely and golden streaks started racing across the sky. The sisters watched, their grins widening, as golden streaks from all over Camelot raced over the sky and landed in the box. 

After several minutes, the ceremony had still not stopped. Golden streaks still came from every direction, diving into the box and refusing to go out again. Just when the sisters thought they were slowing down slightly, more came from an entirely different direction, with several hundred more to follow. They still kept their chant up however, their excitement building as they pictured the look of horror on people's faces when they realised what had been stolen from them. 

The chant when on and on for an hour at the most, but finally, the last golden streak, the one with the most power, dived into the box, and the woman was almost certain that it had been the serving boy's.

The sisters watched in triumph as the box snapped shut and fell harmlessly to the ground, the job it had been waiting for for thousands of years now complete.

The eldest sister stepped forward and bent slightly in order to pick the box up off the ground. She held it for all off them to see, and when she tried to open it back up again, the others noted with a certain smugness that it was impossible.

" _Behold!_ " The eldest sister held the box up once more, " _Our ceremony is complete. Now we may begin._ "

The other sisters broke out into applause once more, all off them not bothering to hide their excitement. Soon, they would be harbourers of unimaginable power.

" _Our onslaught begins at the strike of midnight tomorrow!_ " The sister announced inside their heads, " _There we will find the first victim and make what is hers ours. For now, we shall rest. I bid you goodnight, sisters._ "

The sisters regarded their family with a short bow. They were about to fall apart into shadows before their eldest spoke up again.

" _Oh, and..._ " Her head jerked back up again as a thought occurred to her, " _Let us hope our messenger is having pleasant dreams._ "

Cruel laughter bounced around the womens' heads as they shared their mirth with each other. Finally , they fell apart one by one, their shadows racing off into the night.

In just a few seconds, all that was left of the clearing in the woods was the pale, empty moonlight.

0=II==========>

Arthur stared up at the ceiling, frowning. He could have sworn he had felt something, but for the life of him... he just couldn't figure out what.

It had been several minutes after his dream... ended when he suddenly felt a strange panging in his heart, like something wasn't quite right. Every one of his instincts was screaming at him to get a sword, but Arthur couldn't move. He just lay there, frozen, unsure of what to think or to feel about the fact that his body wasn't listening to him.

Something was happening. He was sure of it.

He wondered who else was awake, and why. Gwaine was probably in the tavern no doubt, and he had probably persuaded Percival and some others to join him. He knew for a fact that Lancelot and Leon were on duty, and that Elyan was staying over at Gwen's house in order to help with the blacksmith business.

And then eventually, as usual, Arthur's thoughts turned to Merlin.

What was Merlin doing right now? Probably sleeping, the lazy idiot. Arthur squirmed a little, thoughts of his dream rushing back into his head. He felt himself go warm. Perhaps wasn't the best time to think about Merlin.

He looked around, eager to distract himself, when he saw the water jug lying on his desk. Adjusting his breeches, he climbed out of bed, grabbed a glass and poured himself a drink. When he had quenched his thirst, he dipped his hand into the jug and splashed some of the water onto his face, which helped him to cool down.

Arthur sighed a little, placing both the jug and the glass back on the desk. While he had cooled down, he was no longer tired. He cast a quick glance to the paper work on his desk, but he quickly cast the thought aside.

There was a chill in the air, he realised, something that wasn't entirely natural.

Brilliant. Now he was too cold. Arthur scowled as he imagined Merlin laughing at him, mocking him for never quite being able to make his mind up.

When he was making his way back to his bed, trying to avoid looking at his mess, Arthur paused when he thought he saw a shadow racing past his window. He blinked a few times, trying to decide wether what he saw was his imagination or not.

However, since Arthur thought little of the imagination, he instead grabbed his sword and headed over to the small streak of moonlight that was peaking out of the gaps in his curtain.

Arthur stepped into the moonlight and looked around for a little while, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. After a minute of having found nothing, Arthur scowled as he became more and more frustrated. That damn servant! There was probably another rat hiding somewhere in his chambers again.

In his temper, Arthur's thoughts returned back to Merlin again and he tried his best to ignore the twitch in his pants whenever he thought of ways to punish the insolent idiot.

Once again looking for a way to distract himself, Arthur grabbed the curtains and yanked them apart, eager to have some light and find the small culprit do he could gloat about it to Merlin later.

If he had gasped, he didn't hear it. Ribbons of gold were weaving their way across the sky, all seeming to land at the same spot. Arthur looked at the show, amazed, the potential rat in his chambers forgotten.

After a few minutes of watching the display, his awe quickly turned to anger. Magic. Magic was being used in his kingdom.

He surveyed his kingdom, but he could see no one out in the streets. No one was pointing or gasping, there was no one coming out of their houses to get a better look. Nothing. If anything, Arthur was almost convinced that he was the only person in Camelot that was watching this blasphemy.

Whatever was happening, whatever it's purpose, Arthur was certain it was evil. That amount of gold in the sky? There was powerful sorcery at work here, that was for sure.

The thought that he should perhaps run to tell Gaius occurred to him, but Arthur found that he couldn't move. All he could do was stare dumbly at the lights that were dancing as merrily in the sky as the shadows did on the ground.

Eventually, finally, Arthur watched with bated breath as the last light raced across the sky, and then dipped into the very same spot where the others had landed. Arthur watched it fade to nothing before he took a step back, contemplating what he just saw.

It wasn't long, however, before the anger returned. He had to tell someone. This could mean bad news for Camelot.

Not bothering to get dressed, Arthur left and quickly headed towards Gaius' chambers.


	3. midnight comes along with the thrill

Arthur couldn't hear his own footsteps as he walked down the hall, but he was to occupied with his thoughts to notice.

Just what had he seen in his room? He hadn't noticed anything different about his kingdom yet.

Arthur slowed down occasionally to stop and listen at other people's rooms, but there was always silence on the other side. He couldn't hear anything.

Had no seen one seen what he had saw? Surely some of the guards. Surely some of the knights.

The silence that still seemed to plague the castle worried Arthur, making him speed up all the more, eager to get to Gaius. No matter what happened, Gaius always seemed to have some answers.

Not bothering to knock, Arthur swung the door open with the name of his physician on the tip of his tongue. When he saw the physician awake however, he squashed the name and stepped in the room a little more politely, aware that his servant was probably still sleeping.

As Gaius straightened in respect, Arthur paused, looking in confusion at the several texts that his physician had been studying. Just what had been so important that Gaius had been awake studying? Let alone during a potential crisis?

Arthur nodded as Gaius straightened, the dire look on the old man's face telling Arthur that he too had seen the magic display, and wasn't surprised that the prince had barged in on him so late in the night.

"Gaius." Arthur nodded in greeting. At least, that's what he would have said.

Arthur paused, frowning. He tried the word again, but nothing came out. He could fill his mouth moving. He could feel his tongue moving. But there was nothing.

He couldn't hear.

Gaius watched Arthur's slow descent into panic in horror, as he had just realised the same thing when he had tried to return the greeting. The two stood there for a while, unsure of what to think of what to do.

Finally, Arthur put two and two together and he looked towards Gaius, a dark scowl on his face. He pointed towards the window as his eyebrows knitted in confusion, trying as best as he could to make it obvious to Gaius that he was asking a question.

Gaius saw his expression and his gesture to the window, and understood that Arthur was trying to ask about the light show that had happened only a few minutes ago. He nodded, confirming Arthur's beliefs that the physician had bore witness to it as well.

Arthur then pointed towards his mouth, unable to stop himself from mouthing the question as well.

_Is this the reason I can't hear myself?_

Of course, no sound came out, but Gaius nodded once again, a brief gesture to his desk telling Arthur that he was looking into it.

In his duty to watch over his kingdom, Arthur thought it only necessary that he join Gaius in his research to find some sort of explanation to his kingdom when they woke up in a panic in the morning.

Arthur looked at the texts with furrowed eyebrows, this time with genuine confusion about what he was looking at. He saw some words and pictures that made sense, such as a list of curses that could effect a large area of people, but the curses that he saw had descriptions of the spells taking months, even years, to be placed properly in effect. He had lost command of his entire kingdom in one night.

He picked up one text after another as Gaius did the same. There was already a large pile on the desk, so it took Arthur a while to get through even one of them, clearly not used to the type of reading and research that Gaius did.

Just as Arthur was contemplating dragging Merlin in here and forcing him to do Arthur's work for him, Arthur unburied one of the first texts that Gaius had pulled out of the shelf and started reading it. After a few minutes ago, he frowned, noticing that this one was on a different topic than all the others. When he closed the book to look at the cover, he held it close to the candle light to better make out the single word that was etched on their. When he had finally made it out, he held it out for Gaius to see.

_Dreams?_

Gaius opened his mouth, struggling to find a proper way to explain, when he saw Merlin burst out of his room. Seeing that Gaius' attention had been taken away from him, Arthur turned to find the panting and shaking form of his servant. Arthur narrowed his eyes slightly, biting his lip. He wasn't quite sure of the last time he had seen his servant so scared.

Merlin hadn't seemed to notice Arthur yet, but marched up to Gaius with a hand to his throat, the same frightened but inquisitive look on Merlin's face that had been on Arthur's just a few minutes ago.

Gaius confirmed Merlin's beliefs, showing the servant how he couldn't hear himself speak either. Merlin's face turned horrified, and then Arthur watched in vague amusement as Merlin's actions grew exaggerated in an almost pantomime-like manner.

The display ended with Merlin tapping his head furiously. When he turned to go walk to the bookshelves, he blinked in surprise when he saw Arthur sat there smugly, the very book he was looking for open on Arthur's lap.

Noticing the various books and texts, Merlin gave Gaius a disdainful look, which Gaius knew meant that he should have let Merlin help him. 

Not waiting for Gaius's answer, not that he could give one, Merlin turned back to Arthur and shot a curious glance between the prince and the various texts that were laid out before the prince. Immediately, Arthur understood what he was implying.

_You're doing work?_

Arthur scoffed and had half a mind to throw his book at Merlin. They had other things to worry about, however, so instead Arthur got up from the bench and grabbed Merlin by the shoulders, dragging him across the room and forcing the servant to sit down in the very place that he had been sitting.

Next he grabbed a pile of books that were considerably larger than the ones that Arthur had and slammed them down in front of Merlin. Neither of the boys could hear the impact, but the table shook slightly underneath it. Merlin gave Arthur an almost begging look, but Arthur's only reply was to shoot him a cruel smile, before plopping down in the seat opposite his servant, his smile having turned immensely smug as he reopened his book about dreams.

Gaius rolled his eyes at the whole display and instead disappeared into Merlin's room. When he had emerged, he was holding a blanket that he quickly draped around Merlin's shoulders. Merlin shot him a grateful look before wrapping the blanket around himself.

Noticing Arthur's questioning look, Gaius took the book that Arthur had been reading, the one called Dreams, and closed it. Arthur watched as Gaius pointed at the title of the book and then pointed at Merlin, who was also watching Gaius try to explain.

Arthur repeated the gesture, trying to understand what Gaius had been trying to say. He mouthed his question, making sure that he understood.

_Merlin's having dreams?_

Gaius nodded. Given the way that Merlin had burst out of his room shaking, Arthur could tell that they weren't kind dreams either. Merlin was having nightmares.

Arthur shook his head, still unsure why it was relevant to the situation, " _About?_ " He mouthed impatiently.

Gaius walked over to the window and pointed out to it. Arthur looked to Merlin, who nodded in confirmation. Merlin squirmed slightly in his seat as Arthur's look turned slightly suspicious. He looked towards Gaius for help, but the old man was to busy fishing out parchment and a few quills.

" _Gaius?_ " Merlin asked in his head, careful not to let any of his expressions give anything away to Arthur, " _What's happening?_ "

" _I'm not entirely sure, Merlin._ " Came Gaius' reply as he returned with parchment and quills, " _All I know is that if we don't come up with some sort of explanation by morning, the people are going to be very upset._ "

" _But either way, how are we going to explain this to them?_ " Merlin asked. While he was speaking, he couldn't help but frown and cock his head slightly. Arthur, who had no idea that they were talking to each other, watched the motion strangely.

" _I think it best that we cross that bridge when we come to it._ " Gaius replied, telling Merlin that he had no idea either, " _For now, I think we best find other means for communication. If you keep pulling expressions like that, Arthur's going to get suspicious._ "

Merlin flushed slightly in embarrassment, " _I forgot he was here._ "

Merlin heard the faint echoes of Gaius' laughter bouncing around in his head, " _Don't let Arthur hear you say that._ "

Merlin grinned despite himself, and Arthur opened his mouth in confusion, unsure of what was so amusing. In order to distract Arthur from his questions, Gaius set the parchment down, giving the two of them quills. Arthur looked at him gratefully, quickly disregarding his strange servant's expressions as yet another act of idiocy.

Immediately, Arthur dipped his quill in some ink and started scribbling down a few questions. Merlin and Gaius looked at him patiently, watching his quill move across the parchment. When he was done, Arthur turned his parchment towards Gaius, not trusting Merlin with it one bit. There in hurried letters, was the question:

_Why was Merlin dreaming about this?_

Gaius quickly shared the question with Merlin, and then gave the young boy an inquisitive look. Understanding the unspoken question, Merlin thought a little, before ultimately nodding his permission. Arthur watched the whole interaction with curiosity, wondering what they were hiding from him that was so interesting.

When Merlin nodded, Gaius bent down and scrawled his response to Arthur below Arthur's question. When he held out the parchment for Arthur to take, Arthur snatched it back and read the answer.

_Merlin was attacked earlier this evening._

Arthur felt his mouth drop open in shock as he read the sentence, and then looked at Merlin, half-expecting it to be a joke. Merlin's brief look of sadness told him otherwise, and Arthur could feel anger gripping at his heart, his fingers clenching and causing the parchment in his hand to become wrinkled.

He mouthed one word, " _Who?_ "

Merlin thought for a moment. Then, when an idea came to him, he quickly grabbed his quill, dipped it in ink and started scribbling. Arthur watched with eager enthusiasm, already picturing multiple ways on how he could run this new enemy through. While watching, Arthur quickly realised that Merlin wasn't writing down his response, but in fact drawing it.

Arthur studied him curiously as Merlin's quill danced across the page. He noticed with a small smile that Merlin's tongue was sticky out slightly at a jaunty angle, held between his teeth. He also noticed the furrowed eyebrows and the slight frown that showed complete focus on Merlin's face that Arthur had never seen before. Though that, of course, was because Merlin was a lazy bumbling fool who was incompetent at practically everything he did.

After several minutes, Merlin was finally done. He spent a few seconds looking proudly at the final result. Arthur rolled his eyes and snatched the page of Merlin, sending a challenging glare to the protest in Merlin's eyes.

Arthur laid the parchment out before him and looked at the picture that Merlin had drawn. It was rushed, but Arthur could just about make it out to be a woman. She was incredibly tall, with dark hair and a psychotic grin spread across her face, pointed teeth reminding Arthur of a rabid wolf. Her eyes were inhumanly wide, and her fingers were impossibly long and clawed. Stretched across the figure was a white dress.

Arthur felt worry cross him as he stared at the figure. Whoever the creature was, however bad Merlin's drawing skills, Arthur immediately knew that the figure, whoever she was, wasn't human. Arthur bit his lip, questions coming into his head faster than he could write them down. Why did she attack Merlin? Was Merlin hurt? What was she doing in Camelot? Did she have anything to do with what he had just seen? Why they couldn't talk?

Instead, Arthur covered up his worries with a smirk. He grabbed the quill and wrote underneath the woman:

_How does it feel to get attacked by a girl, Merlin?_

Merlin read the sentence and scribbled back:

_I happened to win, thank you very much._

Arthur raised his eyebrow, not believing it for a second. He was more convinced that Gaius had ushered the creature out with a broom. His smile fell as another question occurred to him.

_Are you hurt?_

Merlin gave a fond smile at the question on the parchment and looked up and Arthur, shaking his head slowly. Arthur tried his best to hide the sigh of relief. Then, he frowned. Dreading to know the answer, Arthur wrote his next question down as quickly as he could.

_What happened to her?_

Merlin read the question and looked at him oddly, as if the question was obvious. He then made a weird motion, moving his hand up and down that only made Arthur more confused.

Seeing that Arthur didn't understand, Merlin rolled his eyes, grabbed a nearby knife, and repeated the motion of stabbing her. This only made Arthur look even more incredulous.

He pointed at Merlin and then at the knife again. Merlin nodded. He grabbed the quill and wrote something down again. Arthur read it eagerly.

_Gaius helped._

Off course he did.

Unable to grasp the concept of his completely useless servant and his dodgery old Court physician managing to kill a magic creature, Arthur cast it from his mind completely, ultimately deciding that there was other things to worry about. Like how they were going to explain this to his people.

Arthur's attention was drawn to Merlin when he found out that Merlin had carried on writing. He watched patiently, smiling slightly as Merlin's tongue stuck out again, only just visible. Arthur found himself staring at it for what had to be a while, but it felt like only a few seconds before Merlin had passed the parchment to it.

_When I woke up, she had her hand on my forehead. She was the one who caused the dream about whatever happened earlier._

So the two must be linked then. Biting his lip as more thoughts came to mind, Arthur carried on reading:

_But that wasn't the only thing my dream was about. I couldn't hear anything, just like I can't now. But I also saw images, corpses and blood mostly._

Arthur stared at the small passage of writing, unsure what to make off it. Corpses and blood...

A horrifying thought came to Arthur that sent chills down his spine. If this whole spell had already happened, then that meant that people were going to die as well. Had it already happened? Were there people being killed right now while he just sat here passing notes with his servant?

Gaius must have sensed Arthur's turmoil, as it wasn't long before Arthur had withdrawn into his thoughts then he was snapped back out of them by an aged hand on his shoulder. Arthur shot a grateful grin to Gaius before he rested his head on his hand, staring at Merlin's descriptions thoughtfully as he tried to work out his next course of action. Merlin and Gaius turned their heads heads towards him, looking towards their king for orders.

" _This hasn't happened before._ " Merlin sent into Gaius' thoughts as he read the text in front of him, " _We've had attacks like this in the past, but never ones that attacked the entirety of Camelot._ "

" _I know._ " Gaius replied, " _If whoever attacked you truly was behind all this, then there must be more of them. The figure alone wouldn't have had enough power to do all of this by herself._ "

" _Really?_ " Merlin couldn't help but look at him, " _How can you tell?_ "

Gaius smiled at him, " _Because she wasn't able to last very long against you._ "

Merlin contemplated this. It's true, there were many a magical creature that had told him of the immense power within him, but Merlin just didn't get it. All he felt was... normal. Was his normal different from everyone else's? Merlin couldn't be sure anymore. If the creature surely had been that easy to defeat, then she couldn't be working alone in order to have pulled of a spell like that. There had to be others.

" _You're right._ " He eventually answered. He sighed, " _I wish we could start researching now. We've never had Arthur in here before._ "

" _True._ " Gaius said, examining the bookshelves to see if there was anything they had missed.

Merlin allowed a smirk to tug at his lips, " _Think we can get him to leave?_ "

" _Merlin!_ " Gaius scolded. He would have cuffed Merlin then and there if Arthur wasn't present in the room with them. Merlin was about to retort when Arthur started again. They looked at him impatiently, wondering what he had come up with. Eventually, Arthur passed the parchment to Merlin.

_If the attacker and the disappearance of our hearing is related, then surely a spell like that was not of her own doing. There must be more like her that are planning out these murders that Merlin dreamt about. We need to find this creature in one of Gaius' books if we want to find some answers._

Merlin read the order and nodded, selecting the nearest book on magical creatures and getting to work. Merlin glided through the pages easily as he had already read the book multiple times before on previous occasions, and knew from memory that most of the creatures in there didn't fit the description of what they where looking for.

" _I'm surprised Arthur's order actually had something to do with what we were talking about._ " Merlin stared at the page he was reading, lowering his head to hide his smirk from Arthur.

" _Give the prince some credit, Merlin._ " Gaius replied as he looked through a similar book, " _He's a lot smarter than he looks._ "

" _I find that hard to believe._ " Merlin scoffed. Arthur saw the action though and looked up at him suspiciously. Merlin shot the most innocent smile he could muster and then got back to work, Arthur following shortly afterwards, keeping his head down in his search for information that would help explain just what was going on.


	4. Can't call for help

Arthur squeezed his eyes closed in gentle protest as soon as he felt the sun peeking under his eyelids to gently pry them open. His throat constricted slightly, but when no sound came out, Arthur quickly remembered what had happened and was awake in a second.

Ripping his face from the page that it was stuck to, he forced himself to get to his fit. When he saw that he wasn't in his bed, he quickly surveyed the surroundings, years of training and honed instincts kicking in. When he found out that it was just the physician's chambers, however, he allowed himself to relax slightly. His shoulders fell, but he was quickly reminded of the dire situation when he failed to hear the sigh that he was certain escaped his mouth. 

Knowing that he wasn't in any immediate danger, Arthur turned his attention to the sleeping servant that was lying in front of him. Arthur scowled slightly at the slight drool that was forming a small puddle on one of the pages and rolled his eyes in exasperation.

The alarm created by the situation and the frustration evoked by his inept servant caused Arthur to grab one of the heaviest books on the desk and slammed it onto Merlin's head. Merlin was awake with a start, looking around in alarm before his eyes turned to Arthur.

"Idiot!" Merlin spat as he rubbed his head. At least that's what he had meant to come out of his mouth but, like Arthur, he had briefly forgotten about their predicament. Arthur made the word out perfectly from movement alone however, and rolled his eyes in reply.

When Arthur had banged the book on Merlin's head, it had caused the table to shake slightly, which jolted Gaius awake. He scowled at the exchange between the two boys and then looked down to see what he had been reading beforehand. With that, he continued, not missing a beat in what he had read a few hours before.

Merlin blinked at Gaius' efficiency in admiration before returning to the crumpled page that he had been using as a pillow. He spotted the small dribble on one of the pages and wiped at it quickly. Arthur smirked at the embarrassment in his actions and looked out of the window.

The sun was only just coming up, which meant that the people of Camelot would be starting to wake up soon. Arthur bit his lip, already imagining how horrified and scared the people would be when they realised that none of them would be able to hear anything. It was true, Arthur had managed to get some answers, but it may not be enough to satisfy an entire kingdom of angry people. If he didn't come up with a solution quickly, there was going to be an uproar. People were unpredictable when they were scared, and that was the last thing Arthur needed on his plate right now.

Arthur looked down at the book he was reading and skimmed through it. To make matters worse, he didn't understand a word of what was going through his head. It was usually Merlin and Gaius who did this sort of reading on magical creatures. How was he going to help his people understand if he didn't even know what was going on himself? Arthur sighed, rubbing his temples with his fingers.

Merlin noticed the movement and looked up to see Arthur's features pinched with worry. He frowned for a little, realising just how worried Arthur must feel, before placing a hand on Arthur's forearm. Noticing the touch, Arthur looked up to see Merlin give a small smile before returning back to his work.

After Merlin had returned to his reading, Arthur allowed himself a small smile. He may still only be regent, but they were still loyal to him. Arthur cast his memory back to all those times where Merlin had miraculously discovered a brain, and had used it to tell Arthur over and over again just how loyal to Arthur they were. No matter what happened, no matter how scared they were, they wouldn't turn on their regent prince.

Even if they couldn't hear, they'd still listen to Arthur.

Arthur spent a few short minutes contemplating the realisation before he grabbed a new sheet of parchment with such vigour that it made Merlin look up curiously. Arthur kept on scribbling his orders, his words taking up the entirety of the parchment. Merlin's eyes narrowed as he watched Arthur take yet another sheet and write down the exact same thing. Five, ten, fifteen sheets of parchment were soon added to the pile, all with the same words written on them. Merlin, unsure of what Arthur was doing, took one sheet of parchment and looked at it curiously.

**The kingdom is currently under enchantment, and I ask that you all remain calm. I have asked some of my best knights to join me on a patrol to investigate the area where the magic was being led to last night. I already know that the culprits behind this are sorcerers of some kind, and I am venturing out in the hopes and vanquishing them and breaking the curse. Until then, please refrain from violence and try to go about your routine as normal as possible.**

This phrase again and again, being scribbled out as quickly as possible. When thirty or so had been created, Arthur grabbed yet another piece of parchment and started scribbling a different order on yet another piece of paper. When he had finished however, he didn't give Merlin time to read it. Instead, he marched out of the room and down to the barracks. Merlin and Gaius exchanged amazed looks before Merlin left the room as well, hot on the prince's trail.

Arthur had already arrived at the barracks before Merlin had caught up with him. He watched as Arthur wrenched the door open and stormed inside. Following him, Merlin saw the confused expressions of the guards and knights that were inside. What with discovering that they couldn't speak and their prince barging in on them at this ungodly hour of the morning, Merlin tried his best to hide his smirk at as their eyes comically popped out of their heads.

The prince took his time letting the guards read his order until they were rushing around, carrying out whatever Arthur had asked them to do. Once the place was a flurry of activity, some of the guards writing down what Arthur had said to show other people, other guards ushering people out of the door, Arthur grabbed Merlin by the arm and led him back to the physician's chambers.

Whilst he wrote down yet a few more orders, Merlin couldn't help a burst of pride surge through them. He watched in admiration as Arthur moved with a sense of surety about him, as if he knew what he was doing. Even in the most unexpected turn of events, Arthur was still holding back his own fear and worries in favour of his people. It astonished Merlin just how quickly Arthur had managed to take control of the situation. Not for the first time, Merlin was reminded by Arthur's actions alone that he was destined to become a great king one day. Merlin was looking forward to it more and more with everyday.

After he had done that, Arthur took Merlin by the arm again and manhandled him into leaving the room. Merlin shot one last apologetic smile to Gaius before he was dragged out of the room. Merlin tried nudging him, but Arthur didn't stop. Merlin huffed, annoyed that he couldn't ask where they were going. On several occasions, they passed guards that were walking with purpose, some of them holding pieces of parchment that parroted Arthur's orders on them. Now that he had the chance to read them, Merlin tried his best to make out the words while Arthur dragged him along the corridor:

All residents of the castle please make their way to the throne room. Further instructions await there.

" _So that's where they were going._ " Merlin thought to himself as he walked beside Arthur.

When they had finally arrived, several members of the court were already there. The guards were still busy rounding everybody up, so there was still a steady stream of people that were walking through the doors. Arthur made his way up to the throne and sat upon it in nothing but his breeches and the shirt that he had hastily tugged on. If he was bothered by it, he didn't let it show. Merlin automatically took his place beside the throne and observed what was happening before him.

It was like no one was there. He couldn't hear his own breathing, he couldn't hear the footsteps off the people walking inside, he couldn't even hear the birds outside, something he had always enjoyed listening to in the mornings. He bit his lip in worry as he saw people crying into the shoulders of those dear to them. He couldn't even hear that.

Merlin held his breath as dread seeped into his stomach. All the knowledge that he, Arthur and Gaius had gathered during the night. Would this be enough to calm them? Would this be enough to make the tears stop? Merlin hoped that it would.

It took a lot longer than usual to gather all the people in the castle to the throne room, but then again Merlin wasn't surprised. Since Arthur couldn't shout at anyone anymore, the word about the emergency meeting had spread a lot more slowly, and it took the better part of an hour to get everyone to calm down and listen.

" _Look on the bright side._ " Merlin thought optimistically, " _At least Arthur can't boss me around anymore._ "

It didn't cheer Merlin up one bit.

When everyone was accounted for, the people who weren't crying looked to their king expectantly. Arthur got up from his throne, the thirty or so sheets of parchment being held tightly in his hands. He then started handing them all out to the guards, showing them yet another piece of parchment that explained what they had to do with it. One by one, the guards nodded at Arthur and filed out of the throne rooms, their orders received and understood.

When the last guard had gone, however, Arthur still had one piece of parchment left. With this, he returned back to his throne and stood in front of it. There he held the parchment up for all to see, the words on it intentionally a lot more bigger and bolder.

The people of the court read of how Arthur was intending to ride out with some of his knights and they nodded, supportive of his decision. Merlin half-expected one of the old, more stuck-up members of the court to protest and insist that Arthur needed to be there to protect his kingdom, but to Merlin's surprise they were silent. Or at least, didn't have the heart to protest. Though then again, the servant supposed that fear would make anyone shrink back at least just a little.

After he had held the parchment up for long enough, Arthur sat back on the throne, turned the parchment over to the other side and started scribbling again. The members of the court waited patiently. Merlin waited with bated breath.

When Arthur held up the parchment again, Merlin saw that it was a list of names.

**Everyone except these few people are dismissed:**

**Gwaine**

**Percival**

**Elyan**

**Lancelot**

**Leon**

Merlin felt his mouth drop open slightly in offense as people started milling out of the throne room, comforting their friends. The knights that had been mentioned in the list gathered at the foot of the throne room, greeting each other in solemn nods and friendly pats on the back. Merlin paid no attention to this as he marched up to Arthur and nudged him sharply, proper courtly manners be damned.

Arthur glared at him as Merlin made wild angry gestures at not having been included on the list. The servant could hardly believe it. Honestly. After all they'd been through. Did Arthur seriously believe that Merlin would let the prat go off and hog all the fun off getting himself killed? Did he really think Merlin would sit there and obey his orders like some damsel in distress? He ought to turn Arthur into a frog right where he stood-

There was an impatient slap on his shoulder. When Merlin finally looked up, Arthur rolled his eyes and lowered his hand to reveal ink underneath.

Oh.

There, hidden beneath Arthur's hand, had been his name:

**Merlin.**

Instead of being pleased, Merlin found himself frowning, the sneaking suspicion that Arthur had done that on purpose. The smug smirk that was on Arthur's face told him that he was right.

A smack on his shoulder then told Merlin's of Gwaine's presence, and Merlin knew at a glance that Gwaine was laughing at him. He gave Gwaine a friendly smack on the shoulder and joined the others, who greeted him in a similar fashion.

Gwaine, who was practically drunk, though then again when wasn't he, leant on Merlin the entire time that he was being greeted by the others. Merlin tried to shove him off, but that only made Gwaine lean on him even more, digging his face into Merlin's neck, reeking of alcohol. When Merlin spotted Arthur glaring at them, Merlin only offered him a sheepish smile before returning to the futile work in trying to get Gwaine off him.

Arthur strode towards them, fresh orders in tow. Merlin read them along with the others, at how Arthur wanted them all to prepare to rid out and to meet himself and Merlin in the stables. The knights nodded and left, leaving Merlin and Arthur to go back to the prince's chambers in silence.

" _Addressing the entirety of the court in night clothes._ " Merlin wondered to himself. He wanted to make fun of Arthur because of this, but he couldn't. The castle waking up to find themselves unable to hear or speak must have set them into a panic, they would have been frantic if Arthur had set aside the time to get dressed. Merlin was glad that he hadn't. He would have hated to think what the court members would have done in order to get peace and quiet. Well... peace.

" _Not to mention a better view of those muscles._ " A selfish part of Merlin spoke up. Merlin smothered the thought quickly and jogged up to keep Arthur.

They entered the room quickly and Merlin got to work quickly, knowing that now wasn't the time for games and banter. Sharing a similar mindset, Arthur stood in the middle of the room and waited patiently for Merlin to gather his armour. He did so and placed it all onto Arthur in his quickest time yet. Merlin noticed this, but didn't say anything. Couldn't say anything.

He hated the fact that he was so quick to miss Arthur talking to him.

Even with Arthur standing next to him, even with Arthur returning his smile every so often, Merlin had never felt so lonely. It felt like they were the furthest away from each other than they had ever been. Merlin hated it immensely.

It didn't take long at all for the two to be out of the prince's chambers, Merlin rather proud of how quickly he had managed to dress Arthur. True, he had completely forgotten (not bothered) to wash Arthur's armour the previous night but...

They arrived at the stables quickly, Merlin immediately getting to work in grabbing the bags and lugging them all onto their respective horses. He tied the first bag to the horse with a grunt that he couldn't hear and tried tying the straps together quickly as efficiently. Of course, for a servant as clumsy as Merlin, that combination was incredibly rare, and it wasn't long before he was fumbling over the straps in a confused manner, taking longer on the straps that he would have done if he had just tried to stay focused about it.

Merlin heaved a sigh of frustration, not that anyone could hear his call for help, and continued on with the sacks, his fingers becoming slightly more quicker as he continued on.

When he slid into a rhythm, Merlin allowed himself to drift away. Naturally, the minute Merlin had allowed himself to daydream, his doubts came sweeping in. Was this really a good idea? Was it safe? They were up against a creature that Merlin knew nothing about and they only thing they were sure on was the fact that there were more than the one that had attacked Merlin the previous night. What if it was a trap? What if they didn't find anything and their efforts were wasted? What if...

A sudden shake of his shoulder immediately snapped Merlin out of his thoughts. When he looked up he saw the figure of Arthur glaring at him. Merlin didn't need Arthur to be able to speak in order to know what Arthur meant.

_Stop. Whatever thoughts you're having, stop._

Merlin nodded and lowered his gaze, the dire and tense air about the situation causing him to obey for once.

_Yes, Sire._

Replying with a curt nod, Arthur strode away and clambered onto his own horse, the first one that Merlin made sure was packed and ready to go.

Merlin worked at the straps quicker, refusing to let himself get taken in by his doubts again. He shot a grin when Lancelot stepped in to help him with the bags. Lancelot replied with a fond smile and together, they were able to accomplish the task in double the time. What with the restless horses and the constant surveying of their surroundings, Merlin was sure that the knights were just as restless as he was to get some answers.

After all was done and Merlin had perched himself on his horse, they all looked to Arthur for answers. Arthur looked back to make sure they were listening before he pointed in the direction they were heading. Merlin knew that the knights didn't exactly know why they were heading that way, but Merlin did. That was where Arthur had seen all the golden streaks of magic land. That was their best bet of getting some answers. 

Merlin scowled at himself in a brief moment of self-hatred. While Arthur had been showing some initiative, Merlin had been too busy dreaming about corpses and blood and...

Merlin quickly flinched and, not wanting to disobey a direct order, quickly shook the thoughts from his head.

With that, Arthur kicked at his horse's sides and the knights and his servant followed without question.


	5. can't scream or cry

Despite everything that was going on, despite not knowing what they were up against, not being bale to hear, and despite seeing the images of his dreams every time he closed his eyes, Merlin found himself relaxing slightly the minute he and the knights became surrounded by forest. True, he wasn't able to hear anything, but the sight of squirrels peering inquisitively at him and the slight sway of the leaves were reminding Merlin that even though it felt like it, the world hadn't come to an end. There was still hope. Merlin just wished he knew what to do with it. How he could use it to help others.

While Merlin was appreciating the scenery around him, Arthur rode in front, his eyes glued to the ground in front of him. Since he didn't have the knights usual banter and Merlin's constant chatter to distract him, he had made the stupid decision of letting his thoughts run away with him. He tried to recall everything he had read last night, the constant image of the woman that Merlin drew flashing in his mind. Just why had she attacked Merlin? Out of all the people in the castle, out of all of the servants, out of all the stable boys, out of all the people who weren't capable of defending themselves, why did she decide to give the dream to Merlin?

And what if it hadn't been a dream? Merlin was asleep, he wouldn't have been able to defend himself. What if the woman had decided to kill him instead? There'd be no one to hear him scream. No one to hear him cry. Even Gaius would have been completely clueless to what was happening. And then there was Arthur, who would have been in his chambers, none the wiser, sleeping, comforted by his dreams-

" _Stop it._ " Arthur snapped at himself, as he felt his cheeks going red, " _Gods, you're even beginning to act like him..._ "

In an attempt to distract himself, Arthur watched his horse rear it's head, though he was surprised to feel a slight bout of disappointment when he realised that he wasn't able to hear the snort that usually came with it.

" _I can't hear anything._ " The weight of the matter slammed onto Arthur's shoulders, " _I could be out here all alone for all I know. Anything could have happened to them. They could have all been attacked and I wouldn't know._ "

Unable to ignore the panic that gripped his heart, Arthur looked back. Merlin met his gaze and nodded, a hundred assurances in his smile. Arthur returned the nod and went back to staring at the ground in front of him, trying his best to hide the sigh of relief from Merlin.

Arthur eventually concluded that he didn't like this. He didn't like being alone at all. As subtly as possible, Arthur slowed his horse and didn't stop until Merlin was in his peripherals. Then, so that he didn't have to make eye contact with Merlin, forced himself to look at the trees and the animals hidden within them, trying to understand why they made Merlin feel at peace so much.

They continued on like this, with Merlin looking at Arthur with a smug smile on his face, knowing why Arthur had backed up a little, and Arthur trying to focus on nature, trying to distract himself from his own thoughts. What the two didn't notice were the knights who were nudging each other and nodding at them. It wasn't long before all five of them were exchanging knowing glances at the prince and the servant.

The group carried along in literal silence, unable to hear the birds in the trees or the gushes of the wind. None of the knights knew where they were going since they had all missed the show last night, and so they all looked blindly towards Arthur, who had seen vaguely where the golden streaks had landed. He had figured out a rough estimate last night while he had stared at the display, but couldn't do better than that, since a skyline of trees had gotten in the way of making a more accurate guess. Still, Arthur knew the ins and outs of this forest almost as well as he knew Camelot, and he supposed that it wouldn't be long before they found the site where the magic must have landed.

It took around 20 minutes for Arthur to know for definite that they were going in the right direction. If he turned his head and looked up, he could see his window in the distance. (Merlin had forgotten to open the blinds, the idiot)

He continued on, staring straight ahead, the picture of that woman flashing more and more in his mind. As a force of habit, Arthur thumbed the edge of his sword, surveying the area for any sign of threat. This forest, no matter how many safe travels it had housed in the past, was now a site of magic, and could now be the home for any kind of dangers. Merlin noticed the action and tensed himself, spells of protection forming on the tip of his tongue. After all, what with their loss of hearing, it would be alarmingly easy for bandits to sneak up on them, violently brandishing their swords.

The two carried on surveying the areas, looking for two completely different threats. Finally, Arthur was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a small pat on his shoulder.

He turned to see that Merlin had reached across his horse to grab his attention. Arthur nodded at him to carry on. Merlin bit his lip for a second, unsure of how to continue, before he pointed to the ground. Arthur then looked at the completely normal ground, unsure of what he was getting at. He returned his gaze to Merlin, arching his eyebrow in the hopes of telling him that. Merlin rolled his eyes and gestured towards the entirety of the forest. Arthur waited patiently for him to finish before Merlin pointed back at the path again. Arthur scowled at the ground again, before his eyes widened at the one difference. 

They had ridden over this path several times in the past, and it had never been this overgrown. Grass, flowers and other such foliage had taken over the path. It didn't seem to be trodden on, which meant that it hadn't been there during the night patrol, so it must have grown overnight, and Arthur's only explanation for that was magic.

Arthur nodded to Merlin, trying to get the servant to understand that he now knew what he was trying to say. Merlin smiled, returned the nod and then repeated his previous gesture to draw Arthur's attention to the forest.

Sure enough, the same foliage had seemed to wrap itself around the trees and the branches. Coiling around the them and preventing their growth. Arthur even thought he saw a squirrel trying to free himself from the vines' clutches, though his horse rode by to quickly to know for sure.

When Arthur turned around to look at his knights, he saw that they too had noticed the change that was becoming more and more obvious the deeper into the forest they rode. The knights were looking at the plants suspiciously. Arthur smiled slightly as he tried to figure out what his knights were thinking. Lancelot was most likely trying to identify the plants, comparing them to other plants he had seen on his travels. Leon was definitely treating them with suspicion, no doubt expecting that they were magic, like Arthur. Percival probably had his hand to his sword, wondering just how dangerous and strong the plants would be if they really were going to attack them. Elyan was most likely thinking how marvellous a gift they would make for Gwen. Providing they weren't dangerous, of course. Gwaine was defiantly thinking about mead, and Merlin...

Ah. Of course.

The abundance of flowers that had come with the expanse of foliage had resulted in a large amount of butterflies. As soon as the butterflies had spotted Merlin, they had immediately drifted over to say hello. Where any normal man would have swatted them away, Merlin greeted them like old friends, holding out his fingers to give them a place to land and smiling whenever one landed on his nose.

Arthur rolled his eyes at the display. As usual, Merlin wasn't thinking at all.

The knights, once they had all come to the reluctant conclusion that the flowers didn't mean any threat to them, spotted Merlin's new friends and immediately started making fun of him. Since they couldn't exactly tease him, they settled for smirking at him and raising their eyebrows. Gwaine, who was closest, nudged him slightly, which disturbed several off the butterflies that had gathered around, clamouring for attention.

Merlin shrugged helplessly at the knight's reactions, though as the knights shrugged it off, Arthur narrowed his eyes in suspicion. They were riding through a part of the forest that all of them knew by heart, and yet had seemed to reek of magic overnight. Why wasn't Merlin more on guard? Why wasn't he more tense. He knew magic was dangerous. He had seen first hand how it could corrupt. Instead, his idiot servant had decided now would be a good time to play with butterflies.

Arthur scowled and, in his frustration, kicked Merlin sharply in the leg. Merlin flinched at the pain and then glared at him. Arthur returned the stare, waiting for Merlin to comply with the silent order. Eventually, Merlin caved in at the demand and waved the butterflies away. They fluttered off without complaint, which again sent questions off in Arthur's brain. Surely butterflies weren't that obedient. Though the again, his servant had managed to order animals around before. Just what was it about Merlin that made him so... friendly? Arthur sighed. There was something about him, he was sure. Something he couldn't quite put a finger on.

They continued on through the woods, Arthur casting more and more suspicious glances at the woods that were thickening with every step, half-expecting some magical creature he had seen in Gaius' books to come leaping at him, eyes blazing gold.

Eventually, the amount of greenery became to much, and the group were forced to stop in front of a gigantic green wall of leaves that loomed in front of them. The wall allowed the group to go either left or right, but not ahead. When he looked down the pathways of his two options, Arthur thought he saw turns, but he didn't want to chance them just yet.

When he turned to his knights for their thoughts, Merlin mouthed one word.

_Maze._

Arthur tensed at the revelation. He was sure this was where the golden streaks had been heading the previous night and, if this was all magic, which is most definitely was, then they were in the right place. Whatever the golden streaks had meant, Arthur was willing to bet that they would find their answers in the centre of the labyrinth.

Now all they had to do was get through it.

Arthur tapped his horses sides, picking left on a whim, but stopped when Merlin put a hand on his arm. He turned to see Merlin frantically shaking his head, eyes wide with fear and suspicion. When he looked back to his knights, they had similar reactions. Lancelot was trying his best to see round the corners, Elyan was biting his lip, Gwaine was still marvelling and the maze and Percival and Leon still had their hands on their swords. Either way, they all looked sceptical.

Arthur sighed, his shoulders slumming slightly with the weight of his decision. They couldn't hear, which mean splitting up was out of the question. They didn't know what was in there and they wouldn't be able to call for help if disaster struck. They could all go in as a group, but they had no means of finding their way back out if they were to get lost and go in to deep. 

Stuck with the indecision, Arthur looked to Merlin, silently asking for help. Merlin tried to hide his look of sympathy, but Arthur saw right through it. He didn't want Merlin's pity. He needed Merlin's answers.

Sure enough, Merlin thought for a while, before jerking his head back slightly. Arthur thought about what the action implied, staring at his horse's mane as he did so.

Turn back. If they turned back, they'd be able to tell (write) about everything that they had seen and what they thought it meant. They'd also be able to get some more answers out of Gaius, which they could use to make even more decisions. Not to mention there were people who most likely needed his help. People had woken up more afraid than they had ever been in their lives and the only thing Arthur had offered them as comfort were a few words before running away in order to find answers. He needed to return. He needed to console his people.

Nodding a thank you towards Merlin, Arthur pointed back towards Camelot, hoping that the knights would understand that he meant to retreat and regroup. The knights all gave nods of understanding as Arthur led his horse back the way they came, Merlin and the knights following, though not before casting lingering looks at the towering maze behind them.

Arthur was grateful when he began to see the expanse of greenery grow less and less every few minutes. He thought he saw a flash of disappointment cross Merlin's eyes, but he thought nothing of it. Probably upset that he wasn't able to say goodbye to his butterfly friends.

It wasn't long before they were back in the city of Camelot, however unlike before when everyone was still inside their houses, there were now people milling around, wiping away tears as they tried their best to get on with their routines. There were still people in the market, pointing at the stuff they would like, but even Arthur, who barely even visited the market, could tell that it wasn't the same without the clamour of laughter and talking.

In a moment of split-decision, Arthur held out his hand to stop the knights and he descended from his horse, Merlin, in servant procedure, quickly doing the same. The people in the market saw this and bowed, their smiles never quite reaching their eyes.

Arthur went up to the first person he saw, a middle-aged woman who was sniffling quietly to herself, and put his hand on her shoulder. Gaping, she then looked at him as if he were the centre of the Earth, before she nodded and smiled slightly, a thousand words of assurance said in the prince's single gesture. Arthur gave a nod of confirmation before he went up to another person and did the very same thing, often giving the men in the market a friendly pat on the back.

After seeing what Arthur had set out to accomplish, they quickly descended from their horses and continued doing the same thing to the other people in the market, going around and giving them all their own little assurances. Percival had gotten the attention on several children, Elyan was comforting a girl roughly the same age as Gwen, Gwaine was handing someone money, most likely for a drink, and Leon and Lancelot were befriending the men of the village, giving friendly nods and assuring smiles to whoever they could.

After ten or so minutes of Arthur comforting anyone who had tears in their eyes, he climbed back onto his horse, the knights following suit after they had done comforting their respective villager. They all then patiently looked towards Merlin, who had a middle-aged lady sobbing in his shoulder, a baby in his arms and several children tugging at this jacket sleeves. He gave the knights a sheepish smile, but waited patiently for the woman to calm down. After she had done so, she hugged him her thanks and he handed back her children, waving them goodbye with a fond smile on his face.

After the people of the lower market had cheered considerably, Arthur and the knights took their horses and continued their way through Camelot before finally arriving back at the castle.

Arthur climbed down from his horse, Merlin already getting to work on the bags that were attached to his horse. Arthur waited impatiently for him to hand all the bags to the stable boy before he grabbed Merlin by the arm and dragged him towards the physician's chambers.

He had taken a few steps forward when he felt a hand tap him on the back. He turned around to see Lancelot, an inquisitive look on his face. Behind him, the knights were looking at him with the same curious expression, unsure of what to do with themselves.

Arthur made a gesture to them all to follow and he set off again, occasionally looking back at his knights to make sure they were still following and had understood the order. He smiled to himself when he found that they had all understood. He carried on, still dragging Merlin along by his arm.

They all filed into Gaius' chambers, but all paused when they noticed that Gaius had his back turned to them, and had yet to noticed the knights. Merlin tried knocking on the wood to gain his attention, but quickly realised that it wasn't going to work. Releasing himself from Arthur's grip, Merlin stepped forward and gave the physician a slight tap on the back.

Gaius turned around so quickly that Arthur thought for a second that he was going to drop dead then and there. When he realised it was just Merlin and the knights, Gaius rolled his eyes and slapped Merlin on the arm.

" _Stupid boy!_ " Gaius sent into Merlin's brain.

" _Well, I couldn't exactly knock, could I?_ " Merlin challenged.

" _You could have told me this way?_ "

" _And have the knights watch you as you suddenly became aware of out existence? That would have been suspicious!_ "

The knights and Arthur watched Merlin and Gaius' comical expressions with confusion, before immediately looking to Arthur for instructions. Arthur went forward, looking for a blank piece of parchment.

While they were away, it seemed that servants had been in every room, leaving thick piles of parchment in each one of them. Arthur grabbed a quill and some ink and dipped it in, writing down just what they had seen in the forest, and asking him what it meant.

After the knights had gotten Gaius attention away from Merlin, they gathered around the table and stared at Gaius as he carefully read the passage, waiting patiently to see what answers he wold come up with.


	6. unadulterated agony is how you're gonna die

Unfortunately for the outer-lying villages, since it took the slowest for word to get around to them, they had the worst of the shock, as it was a long time before anyone arrived to tell them about what had happened.

The air was thick with fear as people woke up with silent screams and quiet tears, unable to explain to any of their loved ones what was happening to them. Since the word of their prince was taking a while to arrive, the village elders had taken it upon themselves to comfort their villages, going around the houses one by one to check up on the elderly and to see how the mothers were doing.

Thankfully, it only took a few hours to get over the initial shock of the realisation that the entirety of Camelot had lost the ability to hear overnight. The only thing that haunted them now was the question of why. None of them knew why this had happened, but all of them had one answer that had failed to leave their lips: Magic.

More than ever the hatred for the craft grew as people started turning on the ones that they were suspicious off, frantically trying to explain to anyone who would listen that one of their own was the purpose of the curse, and that the only way they could lift it was to burn them. This quickly resulted in mobs and acts of violence, but they were quickly settled down by the village elders and the villagers with sense.

It was a long and eventful morning, but, even with the mobs being forced to disperse, the air was still tense with mistrust and treachery. Everyone who had ever been suspected of sorcery before were now walking on eggshells, and the people who were allowing themselves to be ruled by fear were refusing to leave the house, keeping loved ones close and clutching whatever weapon they could find towards their hearts.

Another thing that thickened the mistrust in the air was the severe lack of parchment. Since the majority of people living in the outer lying villages were farmers, hardly any of them could read or write. This meant just about no communication at all. By mid-morning, most villagers were convinced that the only people that they could trust were themselves and their family.

By the time guards arrived with the king's orders etched onto parchment, the damage had already been done.

They had arrived early mid-morning, their winded appearances and rush to gather their breaths offering small comfort to the villagers as it had meant that the guards had tried to get there as quickly as possible.

The guards showed the parchment to the village elder, who could read and write, who them proceeded to jot it down and show it off to anyone who could read. After he had nodded his thanks to the guards, they took their decree and rode off to the next village.

After the ones in the village were assured that the king and his knights were doing all that they could, they tried their best to calm down the villagers that couldn't read, trying to explain to them all that everything was going to be alright.

Amongst these villagers was Olivia, who was patting her fiancé's back as gently as she could. Her fiancé, Eric, was hunched over the bed, his head in his hands. Olivia stared at the copious amounts of dirt in his fingernails and frowned slightly. If he didn't get back to work soon then the crops would soon start to wither. Vanishing hearing or not, there was still work to be done.

Since Eric had been born and raised to be a farmer, Olivia had taken it upon herself to know how to read and write, even if the darn lessons very well killed her. It took a whole lot of frustration and a whole lot of tears, but she could finally manage it. Granted, she wasn't going to be writing any speeches anytime soon, but it was enough to make herself and Eric's life easier.

Speaking of making life easier, Olivia returned her gaze back to Eric who was still shaking his head slightly in disbelief. Olivia bit her lip, hating the fact that she didn't know how else to comfort her fiancé. They had been friends ever since they were children and the fact that she didn't know how to comfort him, how to be around him...

Olivia shook the doubts from her head and once again returned her gaze to the dirt in the man's fingernails. Crops on the line or not, Eric was in no state to farm. Olivia could still see the tears dripping down his face and splashing onto the floor.

Whatever was going on, she had to be strong for the both of them. The two of them just sitting here crying wasn't going to cut it.

Giving her fiancé a quick peck on the cheek she got up and made her way towards the door.

A quick hand on her wrist told her that Eric wasn't going to let her go so easily. When she turned back around to face him, his eyes were wide with fear and he was shaking his head again, this time in desperation. Olivia frowned, understanding what he meant. Just earlier this morning, Eric had to fend off a man who was brandishing a pitchfork at her. It was dangerous out there, and they both knew it. Olivia knew it would be safer for them both if they just stayed in doors, but that couldn't happen. If they crops didn't get taken care off, then the entire family could be at risk of starvation, and Olivia couldn't afford that.

Olivia gave him a quick smile of reassurance, hoping it would be enough to calm her fiancé's nerves and tell him that it would be alright. After a while of stroking her thumb back and forth along his hand, Eric was finally convinced in letting her go. When Olivia turned towards the door, however, she was forced to stop when Eric followed in her footsteps.

Olivia shook her head, and the two were back at square 1 again. Eric couldn't follow outside, not when they didn't know if Olivia's mother would need them or not. Olivia tried her best to tell Eric this, trying to jerk her head towards her mother's room. Now more than ever, Olivia's mother needed to be kept under strict supervision, especially now that they couldn't hear her cough or sneeze or anything...

Eric took a while of silent convincing, but he finally agreed with a silent nod. After knowing for certain that he had retreated into her mother's room, Olivia breathed a sigh of relief and, making sure no one was around to wield yet another pitchfork at her, Olivia snuck out of the door. 

After looking around a few times, she snuck around the house and towards the fields, specifically to their plot of land. Olivia didn't usually come out to the fields often since she wasn't to big a fan off getting her hands dirty. She understood the importance of farming off course, but didn't like the sight of the worms and the bugs that writhed around in the soil.

Banishing the disgusting thoughts from her mind, Olivia surveyed the field. That didn't mean she never helped out though, of course. Whenever Eric was having trouble with a particular batch of crops, she would always sneak out at night and give the said crops a teeny tiny bit of help. Unfortunately, their success with the harvest for the past few years have given them a little bit of suspicion from the other villagers, but not enough to act upon. Even though, Olivia still had to be careful. One mistake and that was it, and she certainly wasn't going to leave Eric and her mother to take care of themselves.

Once again, Olivia started surveying the area, not taking any chances. If there was anyone around, what with the hearing curse going around and what not...

She shivered, trying not to think about it. If someone saw her, then fear would cause them to put two and two together and she'd be dead in no time.

Making sure that no one was watching, she stepped forward, inspecting the crops in front of her. It hadn't rained last night, so they hadn't been getting much water. And there had been an awful lot of shadows around as well, which meant that they were getting barely any sunlight...

Olivia straightened, frowning slightly, wondering what she should do. She could just take moisture out of the air and water the crops with that... yes, that should work.

Casting a brief glance over her shoulder, Olivia held her breath as her eyes flashed gold.

Nothing. What? Why hadn't it worked? Olivia frowned, cursing her inability to hear herself speak. She must not be pronouncing them properly because of the curse. After a brief moment of pondering, Olivia tried to pull off a non-vocal spell that was suppose to have similar results.

Immediately, Olivia smiled slightly as she saw the soil underneath the crops turn a slightly darker shade, implying that it was now damp. That should be enough water before Eric pulled himself together again. Now, what was she going to do about that sun...?

Olivia frowned as she returned her gaze to the sky. The sun was completely invisible, smothered by clouds that were turning an angry grey. Olivia frowned. That was strange. They had been having perfectly sunny weather until last night. Where had all those clouds come from?

She sighed, but quickly banished the questions from her mind. She had other things to worry about. Once again making sure that no one had managed to sneak up on her, she turned to the field, eyes glowing gold.

As soon as she had visualised it in her mind, a blue ball of light made it's way to the centre of the field, casting as much light onto the crops as possible. Olivia could already feel the first signs of a stomach-ache, but she quickly shrugged them off. She was by no means a powerful sorcerer, just a few spells in order to help with her mother and to make her and Eric's life easier. However, because she didn't practice daily, her spells weren't as powerful as they could be, and they didn't last that long as a result.

Because of this, she was only able to make her ball of light last for several minutes before she had to cast it out. She still needed to save a bit of magic for her mother, anyway.

Sneaking back around to the front of the house, Olivia was about to make it inside when a shoulder grabbed her by the hand and whipped her around roughly.

She shook her head, dazed slightly, but her eyes narrowed when she saw who it was. Adam, who had dark hair and a body framed with muscles, was practically the opposite of Eric. Whereas Eric lacked confidence and mostly kept to himself, Adam was loud and boisterous, often getting himself and any girl he set his eye on in a lot of trouble. Olivia rolled her eyes and tried to get back inside, but Adam slammed his hand against the wall, preventing her from getting back inside.

Olivia steadied herself, watching his every move cautiously. Adam returned the challenge, his eyes burning with the rage and fury of a pyre. In a brief moment of fear, Olivia wondered if he had seen her do magic. Adam's father hated magic more than anyone in the village, and he had passed his vile and cruel nature onto his son. If Olivia had been seen by Adam, it would be all over. And it wasn't like she could scream for help.

She studied the area around her, wondering if she could use magic as a distraction. It would be ill-advised, as she still needed some to help her mother, but it would be a nice safety net to fall back on. Unable to see anything, Olivia returned her gaze to Adam, who was breathing heavily through his nose. Olivia thought he looked like a wild boar, and wished in that moment that she had the strength to turn him into one.

They stayed like that for a while, and Olivia eventually started to get bored. Adam may have been all talk, but he wasn't exactly talk of the town because of his fights, more because of his... conquests. Olivia briefly recalled a fling that had lasted a week, but it had ended the minute she had heard of his reputation. Adam may have been a lot of things, but one of them certainly wasn't trust-worthy.

Since Adam couldn't read or write, Olivia still had no idea what the trouble was, and tried her best to prompt Adam to speak. She raised her eyebrows, waiting patiently for him to do something.

Scowling, knowing that he was unable to have an argument with her properly, he pulled away from her, but as he squinted his eyes Olivia knew that he would be watching her closely from now on. Olivia sighed as she watched him walk away. She had to be more careful.

She snuck inside, closing the door behind her with a sigh of relief. Then, she made her way to her mother's room, hoping that she hadn't missed anything important during her time in the fields.

The room that her mother was in was the smallest of their three-roomed house, but she managed. Unfortunately, she was mostly bed-ridden these days, but that didn't stop Olivia from trying her best to take care of her. When her mother wasn't asleep, she was embarrassing Olivia with as many baby stories as she could, which had become a favourite pass-time for Eric. When the thought occurred to her that they wouldn't be able to do that tonight, panic gripped her heart. What if her mother woke up and she wouldn't be able to hear? What if the scare made her worse? Olivia frowned as she walked over to Eric, but he shook his head. Olivia allowed her shoulders to relax. Her mother had just about slept the entire a day, which meant she would be waking up soon. Olivia hoped that they wouldn't scare her to much.

While Eric bustled around lighting the candles to fight against the darkness of the evening, Olivia sat beside her mother, stroking her hair. She still hadn't recovered the magic that she needed for the spell she wanted to perform, so she hung back a bit, trying to take deep breaths.

Her mother had been against magic from the minute she had started using it, but Olivia couldn't care less. It was selfish, she knew, but she couldn't bare the thought of losing her mother to the illness. It didn't matter how much her mother had disagreed, it didn't matter how much her mother hated her. All she wanted was for her mother to be alive. For the three of them to be a happy family.

The only reason she had turned to magic was when her mother started getting ill, but she had learnt it had uses on the field as well. She had brought the issue of learning healing spells up with Eric and, after a while, he had eventually agreed. Eric wasn't blind like the rest of the villagers, and could see that magic could also be used for good, such as healing a beloved mother that had practically raised the two of them after Eric's parents had been killed by a rampant boar.

Olivia started when Eric settled down beside her, candles now lighting up the room with a gentle glow, the soft shadows flickering on the walls, watching.

Olivia sighed, all of her attention fixed onto her mother's sleeping figure. There were times in the evening when her mother didn't even wake up. She could sleep for days and scare Olivia half to death, only to wake up with a strong smile and a few feeble coughs. Sharing a glance with Eric, Olivia finally shook her hands, preparing herself for the spells to come. It was going to be a lot harder without vocals, but there wasn't much she could do about that now. It was time.

Resting both her hands on her mother's heart, Olivia's eyes glowed gold. With all her strength, she tried to remember the times that her mother had been happy and healthy.

Olivia panted a few times after the spell, rapidly trying to get her breathing under control. Her mother didn't react to the spell, though then again, she never did on the first try. Olivia could see the sweat on her skin dry though, and she could see the slight drool around her mouth ebb away. Encouraged by the sight, she recovered and tried again, both her hands covering her mother's heart. Olivia tried to feel the heartbeat under her fingertips, trying to remember how lively it had sounded a few years ago.

The mother shifted a little in bed, but things otherwise remained the same. Olivia gasped for breath, Eric holding her as she leant onto him for support. She could feel herself going light-headed but she ignored it. She had been doing this three times a day for the past few months and her mother was still here. She was not going to give up now. With new vigour, Olivia planted both her hands in the same position and tried again, thinking of how her mother had refused to give up whenever Olivia had gotten herself sick.

Her mother gasped at this one slightly as well, and Olivia smiled as she saw the colour return back to her cheeks. There was a little more life in her now. Not a lot, but it was still there. Olivia allowed herself to relax, fully leaning into Eric's body for support. Eric kissed her hair and stroked it absent-mindedly, watching the shadows dance on the wall in front of his as if he were hypnotised.

After what seemed like an age, Eric lifted his chin from Olivia's head and looked into her eyes, a silent question of if she was ready to go to bed. Olivia cast one last look at her mother, before she nodded reluctantly. She knew it was stupid to think her mother could ever be in danger with Eric in the room with her, but she couldn't help but worry all the same.

With the months that Olivia's mother had been sick, Eric had seen just how exhausted Olivia became after using the spells and had suggested that he watch over Olivia's mother while she slept. Olivia, too exhausted to argue at the time, had agreed, and that had been their routine since: Olivia would sleep off the exhaustion in an entirely different room and Eric would watch over her mother.

Olivia climbed into the bed, feeling her eyelids drooping the second her head hit the pillow. As usual, she felt worried that she wasn't there for her mother, but nothing had gone wrong before. Besides, they were in the room next to her if she ever needed them. Batting the needless worries away, she quickly allowed herself to sink into a deep sleep.

0=II==========>

When the clock stuck midnight, they came out.

The shadows that had been softly swaying in the breeze soon became sharp the minute the moon shone upon them. They slinked past the two sleeping figures and snuck underneath the door into the chilling world outside.

There, she formed, and the woman stood their floating, telling her sisters of her chosen location.

She stood there for several minutes, waiting for her sisters to arrive. She was oh so excited. The idea of a voice again. The idea of casting spells again. It was all to much. It made her simply shiver with anticipation.

It wasn't long before she caught sight of her sisters in the pale moonlight. They drifted out of the slight fog and hovered into the light, their white dresses flapping in response to the slight wind. They came at varying times, but they were soon all there, all soon gathered outside the chosen house.

The woman who had chosen the house bowed in greeting of her sisters, her maniacal grin spreading as she presented the scalpel to the audience. Her sisters clapped as she showed it off, not caring how loud they were being. After all, it wasn't like the village could hear them.

The woman held up one long, pointy finger and the applause stopped immediately. Then, she pointed her hand towards the door and it drifted open without complaint.

They floated inside, the door closing softly shut behind them. They looked around the pitiful cottage with mild interest. When they had approached the door opposite them, it once again opened silently and the six sisters all drifted around the bed, the one with the scalpel closest to the sleeping figure.

The leader of the sisters stopped the woman with the scalpel and waved her hand in front of the first chosen in a grandiose gesture. The women all bowed their head in respect. She was giving her power to a greater cause. The first of six.

The woman held up the scalpel to the moon and grinned.

" _And so it begins!_ " She announced to her sisters.

The scalpel landed into Olivia's neck and she woke up screaming.

No one heard.


	7. When everything's dire

Merlin gasped, his eyes flying open as he shot up in bed. He could feel cold sweat pouring down his face as he yanked the covers off him, desperate for some cool air.

His eyes darting around the room to see if he could find the monster in his dreams, but he collapsed back onto his bed when he realised that the room was empty.

" _The same dream._ " Merlin realised as he managed to get his breathing under control, " _It was the same dream that I had last night. That woman must have done something to me, it couldn't have been a coincidence._ "

Trying to distract himself from thoughts about his dream, Merlin tried to recall everything that Gaius had told him as he stared up at the ceiling.

After the Knights and Arthur had arrived back at Camelot and had told Gaius about the labyrinth, they had needed to leave in order to comfort and explain their findings to the court. Meanwhile, Merlin and Gaius had been ordered to stay behind to see if they could find anything about it.

Gaius had spent hours looking at labyrinths, and how they had been used for centuries as methods of protecting magical creatures, such as unicorns.

" _You think the labyrinth could be protecting something?_ " Merlin had said, as he frowned at his own passage about labyrinths being used as a trial of trust.

" _Yes, but it's best not to tell Arthur this just yet._ " Gaius sent into Merlin's head as he looked for another book on the shelf to defend the author's argument, " _If he learnt this, he would ignore the fact that it's a possibility and go charging in without waiting, and gods knows what's lurking in that labyrinth._ "

" _You're right._ " Merlin had frowned, " _If Arthur learnt that this is where those creatures are hiding, he'll go there without question just to keep his people safe. We need more answers before we tell Arthur._ "

They had continued to look all evening, but they couldn't find anything that backed up their theory. Since labyrinths were only around to protect the most prestigious and powerful of magical creatures, it was very rare for anyone to come across them, and so many of the author's in Gaius' books hadn't even seen one. Gaius and Merlin had spent the rest of the afternoon sighing heavily and flipping the pages, Gaius mildly interested and Merlin bored out of his mind.

Now, Merlin stared dolefully at the ceiling, still shivering at the sight of the blood that had been scarred into his mind. Those women had definitely given him this dream for a reason. But why? Why would they want to reveal their plan in this way? And why him?

Merlin sighed, checking to make sure one last time that no one else was in the room with him. He could feel the hairs on the back of the neck standing up, his instincts screaming at him that someone was watching. But when he checked around the room, no one was watching. The only thing that was in the room with him were the faint shadows that were drifting merrily along the wall behind his head, cast by the candle he had lit moments after he woke up.

He played the dream over and over in his head, his frown getting deeper and deeper as it did so. Why had the woman been ordered to give him this dream? As a warning? Why? Did they want the king to start hunting them? Why not give the dream to Arthur? Where they trying to lure them both into a trap?

Sighing, he rubbed at his face, frustrated at the swamp of questions that were swimming around in his head, the few answers that he had doing very little to keep afloat.

What had kept playing in his head during his dream? It had been some kind of... song, hadn't it? Merlin considered his dream once more, and remembered the song that had played over and over again in his head during it.

Scared that the lyrics would soon leave his mind, Merlin rushed out of bed to wake up Gaius.

0=II==========>

**The first one will be sure but will still bewitch**

**The second one will be pour but will still die rich**

**The third one is kind but will die alone in a ditch**

**The fourth one will regret**

**The fifth one will redeem**

**Either way it'll all be over when the final one screams.**

**We've no choice**

**We need our voice**

**These six will die in agony as part of our scheme.**

Merlin waited anxiously as Gaius poured over the words for the tenth time. Merlin could see his lips moving as he muttered the words to himself. Not that any sound was coming out, of course.

" _What do you make of it?_ " Merlin finally dared to ask as Gaius's figure straightened, his wrinkles lined with worry.

" _It appears to be some sort of prophecy._ " Gaius struggled for the right word, " _A... prediction, it seems._ "

" _And the corpses that I dreamt about._ " Merlin leant forward slightly, " _These six are the ones that are going to die?_ "

Gaius didn't answer, but instead mulled the question over in his mind, opting to read the passage again.

" _Merlin._ " Merlin looked up from the text as Gaius spoke into his head, " _Do you recall what these corpses looked like?_ "

Merlin frowned slightly. Of course he knew what they looked like. Why wouldn't he?

" _Sure._ " Merlin answered, " _Let's see, um..._ "

As he reached into his mind, his confidence fell slightly as he tried to picture a face in his mind. Every time he tried to make out the colour of some hair, or the appearance of a jaw, it seemed to change ever so slightly into more generic features. After some more digging, Merlin also realised with horror that he couldn't focus on any features. After a while of trying, he was certain that all he saw was a blank face.

" _No._ " Merlin realised, " _No I can't. They're just... bodies._ "

" _Then it's not a prediction either._ " Gaius told him grimly, " _It's a warning. These creatures, whoever they are, have plans on killing six people in order to complete some kind of... ritual._ "

" _That could be why they've stolen everyone's hearing!_ " Merlin pounded the table accidentally when two and two came together. In his excitement he started pacing the room, " _They didn't want to have themselves found, so they cast a curse so that no one could hear people being murdered._ "

" _But if they didn't want themselves to be discovered, then why did they give you that dream?_ " Gaius countered.

" _I... oh._ " Merlin slumped back into his seat, " _I don't know._ "

After a brief moment of silence as they both pondered the new information, Gaius looked up and continued talking into Merlin's head, " _Either way, we should probably tell Arthur what we've found out. Six people are in danger._ "

" _You're right._ " Merlin rose from his seat, then, shrunk slightly, " _Um... can we do it in the morning?_ "

Gaius raised his eyebrow at him, " _There are six people who are in danger of being killed._ "

" _And Arthur needs his rest. He doesn't need to know about it until tomorrow._ "

Gaius glared at him, at it wasn't long before Merlin yielded.

" _Alright, alright! But you're waking him up! That prat is a nightmare when he doesn't get his beauty sleep. You know once he threw water at me while we were hunting at it had fish in it Gaius! Fish! And then there was one time..._ "

Gaius rolled his eyes as he wrote down everything he was going to say on a piece of parchment, Merlin's complaints still echoing around in his head. Several minutes later, Gaius has grabbed some parchment and quills and was up, walking out of the room with Merlin trailing after him. 

The trip to Arthur's room didn't take very long at all. The guards had doubled, granted, but that was about it. Because of the fear of magic that was prevalent in the castle, most people had refused to come out of their chambers, even if the day time, believing that something bad would happen if they were to leave the safety of their rooms.

The guards had eyed Gaius suspiciously at first, but then they cast their thoughts away from him and focused on their patrols. It wasn't unusual to see Gaius drifting around at night, not with so many elderly members of the court who had sore muscles and aching battle wounds from eons ago. Gaius was the most common person in the castle to see at night, so the guards weren't giving them to much trouble.

With a sharp nod of greeting to the guards, Gaius opened the door and made his way onto the chambers, Merlin following behind, glad that, for once, Arthur wouldn't yell at him for not knocking. They'd have to wake him up another way.

Merlin grinned at the possibilities as he made his way towards the bed, his previous reluctance forgotten.

" _Merlin._ " Gaius called into his head, knowing exactly what Merlin was thinking.

" _Please! The opportunity's too good!_ " Merlin asked, eyes wide in the puppy-dog fashion that he knew Gaius was a sucker for.

Merlin could see Gaius sighing as he used magic to light up the candles that were around the room, " _Very well. But only because his smack will be harder than mine. Perhaps then you'll finally realise just how stupid you are._ "

" _I doubt that._ " Merlin grinned. After all these years, all the hits that Arthur had got in had never once discouraged Merlin. That wasn't going to change now.

Merlin considered his options as he watched the steady rise and fall of Arthur's chest. Now how was he going to wake up someone who couldn't hear? It was perplexing indeed.

Merlin pursed his lips as he studied Arthur. He could shove him out of bed. But he'd done that before. Hmm...

Merlin felt a grin tug at his lips as he eyed the water pitcher on the table.

It was a shame he couldn't wake Arthur up in the conventional way. Truly.

Without pausing to reconsider, Merlin grabbed the water pitcher from the table, scrambled onto Arthur's bed and chucked the load at him, a grin spread wide across his face. He only wished he could have put a toad in it.

Arthur's eyes shot open and he gasped as soon as the water splashed across his face. Merlin could see him coughing and spluttering as he wiped the water from his eyes. When he finally saw Merlin grinning next to him, his look of confusion turned into one of rage as he quickly shoved the covers around his waist, his cheeks going red in the candlelight.

Merlin didn't catch this however, as he was too busy scrambling out of the bed, trying frantically to get out before Arthur caught him. Of course, with Arthur having years of training under his belt and honed reaction times, this didn't happen. He grabbed Merlin before the servant even had time to move and immediately shoved his head into the damped part of the pillow. Merlin tried to sound his protests, but nothing came out. Instead, he resorted to flailing like a dying fish, something which Arthur enjoyed watching immensely.

The two stayed like that for a while, Arthur watching Merlin suffer and Merlin trying, and failing horribly, to get out of Arthur's grip and the extremely uncomfortable position he was in.

Arthur finally turned around when he felt a polite tap on his shoulder made him realise that Gaius was standing there, waiting patiently.

Knowing that Gaius wouldn't wake him up for no good reason, Arthur clambered off the bed and followed Gaius over to the table, adjusting his trousers as he did so. When he cast a glance over to the bed, he couldn't help a smirk of satisfaction when he saw Merlin's hair rumpled and his shirk soaked.

His smile faded when he saw that Gaius had placed a piece of parchment next to his chair, already full of writing. Wasting no time, Arthur sat down and read what Merlin and Gaius had found out.

He frowned when he completed it, trying to take in all the information. It was true, he had remembered a labyrinth being involved when he had killed that unicorn, so it would make sense that labyrinth could be protecting something. As for Merlin's dream, well... ominous, perhaps, but it was a warning, nothing more. Other than that it was harmless.

What Arthur was fretting about were the six people. The six that had been foretold to die. When Arthur had sent word to the neighbouring kingdoms this afternoon, he had found out that only Camelot had been affected by the silencing spell, which meant that the six in question were six of his people. That meant that it was his duty to protect them. No one else's.

_Do we know which six people are going to die?_

Arthur wrote the question onto the sheet of parchment that Gaius had offered him. Gaius glanced at the question and shook his head forlornly. Arthur bit his lip. Six people in the entirety of Camelot, and none of them being able to hear anything. He'd have to double security, that was a given, but he'd have to set a curfew and make a few temporary laws. He tapped the quill against his chin, trying to figure out how to put his orders onto the parchment to show to the guards in the morning. He put his thoughts to the side when another question came to him.

_Do we know if there are going to be any intervals between these deaths? Or are they going to be all at once?_

Gaius read the question carefully and shook his head, shrugging. Arthur frowned at the piece of parchment and rubbed at his temples, once again the pressure of being king weighing down upon his shoulders. He spent a few minutes watching Merlin, who was now busying himself with chores that he had failed to complete in the afternoon due to the research. Arthur knew that Merlin was trying to distract himself from his dream, and he didn't blame him. He only wished he could do the same.

Arthur sighed and returned his attention back to the riddle in front of him. He had been trying to put it off, but if it meant protecting his people then Arthur saw no choice. In all the interactions he had with magical creatures, there was always some sort of riddle involved, and Arthur loathed them all the more for it. What was so hard about saying a single statement? Why did they have to beat the bush around it? Arthur couldn't see the point to them, and it made his frustration of not knowing what was going on all the worse. When Gaius saw him examining it, he started writing something down on a separate piece of parchment.

Arthur waited eagerly for him to finish, hoping it would be help in deciphering the riddle.

_The riddle came from Merlin's dreams, Sire. When we examined it, we believe that the numbers the riddle refers to are the qualities of the people who are going to be murdered._

Arthur read the words over several times before he turned his attention back to the riddle.

**The first one will be sure but can still bewitch**

The very first line in and Arthur was already tense. Immediately, he honed in on the word that worried him the most and put his thoughts on paper, pushing it over to Gaius.

_Bewitch? Does that mean they could be a sorcerer?_

Gaius frowned and the words and wrote his reply:

_Perhaps, Sire. Though if this is a magic curse, then the motive is most likely revenge. Why would they kill their own kind?_

Arthur mulled over the words before he slumped in his seat. Gaius was right, it didn't make any sense. It could have been meant in another way, though for the life of him, Arthur couldn't think what. Pushing the worries from his mind, Arthur focused on another word and went from there. Once again, he scribbled on the parchment and pushed it over to Gaius.

_It says here that they're sure. Does it refer to their loyalty to Camelot? Perhaps that's why these creatures want them dead._

Gaius read the words thoughtfully and nodded, though Arthur knew that it meant that his guess was as good as Gaius'. Arthur sighed, resting his chin on his hand. They weren't getting anywhere by exchanging theories. They needed to be out there. Patrolling the streets. Running swords through these monsters. They weren't going to save anyone by writing stuff down and not getting any definite answers in return.

Arthur ignored all thoughts about riddles and started thinking in the way he was used to. Enough questions. Enough riddles. It was time for strategy. It was time for logic. Arthur tried to picture himself with a map in front of him, trying to plan out a battle. The magical creatures would want war, so they'd attack like any other army. As he tried to see it from his point of view, Arthur grit his teeth. Now. What would he do if he were in the creature's shoes?

This was the first victim of the six that they'd have to kill, so they'd be as subtle as they could, they wouldn't want to get noticed yet. Not while the fun was just beginning. No one from the citadel, and certainly no one in the castle. They were monsters, using their magic to twist the hearts of innocent people. They fed of fear, so they'd go for the places that still didn't entirely grasp what was happening. Arthur knew from reports that the outer-lying villages didn't receive word from him until the afternoon, therefore most of them would still be scared. They would lack the defence of the citadel and the offense of the knights. They'd be completely vunerable.

Arthur bit his lip, continuing with his hypothetical. So, it was most likely someone in the outer-lying villages. A lot of the people were poor there, and the creatures would have thought that one villager wouldn't have been missed by the prince, so they would go for someone as harmless and ordinary as possible. If the creatures of magic were just as evil and heartless as his father had said they were, then they would want to pick a person who would be the most afraid. 

A child. The thought occurred to Arthur, but he quickly shook it from his head. It couldn't have been a child. Surely not. No magical creature was that evil.

However, the horrifying thought was the last straw. Arthur rose from his chair, Gaius and Merlin looking up as he did so. Quickly he scribbled down his actions to them. When he had done, he crossed his room to where Merlin had just finished cleaning his armour.

In his impatience to leave, Arthur had scribbled down the words _We're leaving._ and had left it at that. Merlin quickly took the words in before he went to help Arthur with his armour. 

The prince saw the servant mutter " _Where?_ " but Arthur paid him no heed. He just stared straight ahead, repeating all the information he believed to be true over and over, not wanting to forget it.

It was in record time that Merlin had helped Arthur with his armour, but the prince didn't give him answers in return. He just gave him orders that he wrote onto the parchment.

_You man the horses. I'll gather the knights. Meet at the stables._

With that, Arthur strode off towards the barracks, leaving Merlin and Gaius staring at the door in which he had left, scared and confused.


	8. light the funeral pyre

The alarm in Arthur's actions were enough to convince Merlin that he had a plan up his sleeve. After shooting a questioning look to Gaius, Merlin made himself scarce from the prince's chambers and quickly made his way to the stables, not looking forward to waking up the horses.

It was no easy task, but this wasn't the first time that Merlin had had to wake the horses up on short notice. Thankfully, in true Merlin fashion, he had managed to accidentally make the horses quite fond of him and, after a several nostril flares of disgust, everything was forgiven after a few carrots.

When the horses had been sated, Merlin busied himself by fetching the bags, the ones that were kept close to the stables for this very reason and started on the straps, quickly lighting the candles with magic after he made sure that no one was around.

As he worked, he wondered what had caused Arthur to become so worried. He knew the prince was upset about the part of the riddle that involved six deaths, but it said nothing about who was going to die, when or where. How was Arthur planning on protecting six people when he didn't even know where they were?

Merlin frowned as he strapped the last bag onto the final horse. Then, he preoccupied himself by stroking the horses, scratching them behind the ears. He realised in the empty silence that he sorely missed the relaxed grunts of that the horses gave out whenever they were satisfied. Everything sounded so lonely now. Even when surrounded by knights, even when surrounded by friends, there was still that ominous, foreboding silence settling in the air. Merlin was certain that he had never felt so lonely in his life.

He perked up a little when he saw Arthur making his way to the stables, his exhausted Inner Circle in tow. Merlin couldn't help but grin as he saw Leon and Gwaine's bedheads, Elyan slashing his face with water, Percival swaying slightly and Lancelot blinking for longer than usual. However, despite their dishevelled and tired appearances, they all had frowns on their faces, as if they could tell that Arthur's tense demeanour meant that something bad had happened.

As soon as he saw them coming, Merlin leant onto a horse and scribbled down what he knew on a piece of parchment he had snagged while leaving the prince's chambers. When they approached he gave the sheet to Gwaine, who took it in slowly.

**Dreamt of a riddle where six people got murdered. Arthur's going to investigate. He hasn't told me anything else.**

Gwaine read Merlin's awful handwriting and then looked at the servant like he had just grown another head. Merlin smiled apologetically and shrugged sheepishly. He knew that it was a poor explanation, but he didn't exactly know anything else. If Arthur could have explained his thoughts to them, then he was sure that he would, but right now the prince was convinced that there wasn't enough time.

Merlin clambered onto his own horse as Gwaine read the message once more and then passed it onto the other knights, who frowned as they also struggled what to make of it.

However, Arthur was quickly shoving them slightly, a clear message that the group needed to get a move on. They shot puzzled looks at him, but Arthur could only respond with a hurried shooing motion. The knights frowned but knew that Arthur couldn't do anything to be more helpful. So they clambered on, their muscles tense at the thought of facing danger, possibly even the creatures behind the curse.

Arthur was last on his horse, as he made sure that the bags were secure. The last thing they needed was something to delay them.

Finally, the group were of, but where all but one didn't know. Arthur took the lead, constantly surveying the area for any sort of danger. Any knight, whatever rank or station, knew that riding in the dead of night was a bad idea. Arthur, however, seemed to think that this was an exception for that rule, which made the knights even more tense. This wasn't just some other sorcerer that they encountered every other week. This was serious.

They made it through the lower town easily enough thanks to the moon's help, but after the path started sprouting trees instead of stone, Merlin started to get worried. The moon quickly abandoned them and all became dark in seconds. The servant was looking around, trying to convince himself that every touch against his cheek was just a branch brushing against him. Now more than ever, Merlin wished that he could hear the comforting sounds of the forest. He had already lost his hearing. He wasn't quite a fan of the idea of being plunged into darkness.

Merlin squirmed in his saddle, but his distress was going unnoticed by Arthur. The prince was still staring stubbornly ahead, refusing to address the idea of turning back and waiting until morning. Fortunately, the knights and Arthur knew this part of the forest like the back on their hands, so they weren't to worried about getting lost. It was just, well... anything could be out there. And out of all the things he'd seen, all the things he'd fought, it was his own imagination that scared Merlin the most.

The continued on in their poisoned silence, all turning back to try and distinguish the outlines of each other to make sure that they were all there. The moon had granted them the small mercy of having some of it's beams shine down through the gap between the trees, so the knights could still see each other. The glow was dim and it only stretched so far, but the knights were grateful for it nonetheless.

And so the knights rode on for several hours, plunged in a forest that was home to who-knows-what in a kingdom plagued by silence in the middle of the night.

Thankfully, it didn't take the knight long to figure out that they were headed towards the outer-lying villages. What with the length of the journey and Arthur's concern, they had managed to make their guess through process of elimination. Naturally, the outer villages were on the border of the kingdom, explaining the length of their trip, and Arthur would only get this worked up about people who weren't able to defend themselves. What with Merlin mentioning people getting murdered and Arthur's desperation to get to the outer villages, it wasn't hard for the knights to put two and two together and tense at the thought of murder. It took a while, but it wasn't long before the knights shared Arthur's expression of urgency.

Finally, after a few hours of riding in darkness, the forest trees soon withdrew and the ground was bathed in moonlight once more. The knights surveyed the area suspiciously, their minds whispering doubts of murderers lurking in the shadows.

Arthur was looking around, half-expecting the creatures Merlin had drawn to come to them, snarling at thought of being discovered. He frowned, trying to ignore Merlin's expectant gaze on his back. Both he and the knights were looking at him for what to do. Arthur but his lip as he went over all the information he had at his disposal.

The first victim was going to be a person in one of the outer lying villagers as that would have been the place where a murder would hardly be noticed by the prince. Arthur needed to spread the word around and the warn the villagers before the creatures started their ritual. The only problem was he didn't know which village the creatures were going to be attacking or when.

" _They could already be dead and you could already be to late._ " A vicious voice snarled in the back of his head, but Arthur quickly shook it off in favour of the calm and reasonable voice that spoke of strategy rather than doubt.

They needed to get the word around as quickly as they could without using their voices. There were six villages in the area that Arthur suspected was most vulnerable and there was seven of them. Of course, if the creatures really did appear, the the knights wouldn't be able to call for help if they were alone, so they'd need to split up... that left two groups of two and one of three. If they hurried and gave the message to the guards that had been assigned to the villages that morning, then the knights wouldn't take that long. If each group took two villages and passed on the word that way then they'd be done within the hour.

At the fleeting thought of time, Arthur looked up at the moon in the sky. It was very nearly at the highest point, which meant that it was almost midnight. Arthur made a rough estimate of an hour and a half before casting the thought from his mind in favour of more pressing matters. With a mute grunt, he dismounted from the saddle, grabbed parchment and a quill from his saddle bag and started scribbling down the orders he had just figured out, wary of the anxious glances that the knights often shot his way.

After a few minutes, Arthur had completed jotting down his orders and the letters that the knights would have to give to the guards. He handed them out along with his orders, which the knights took in carefully.

It wasn't long before the knights had branched off into the groups that Arthur had ordered them to. Percival and Lancelot has opted to go to the villagers in the far west, Elyan and Leon agreed to go to the villagers to the Far East and Arthur and Merlin took the two in the North. When Gwaine started following them around, Arthur rolled his eyes and eventually got so irritated by the poking that he finally relented.

Arthur watched as the two groups went into their respective villages, the letters that offered explanations and warnings to the outpost guards tucked safety in their pockets. Once they were only tiny specks in the distance, Arthur cast a glance to Merlin and Gwaine before he kicked his horse in the side and they were setting of to the first village that he had assigned them.

The first village was a small, quaint little thing that Arthur was certain was about the length of his chambers. There were only seven shabby-looking huts, all of which looked like they were going to collapse at any second. The minute the dinky little town came into view, Arthur surveyed the area, but nothing out of the ordinary spoke out to his honed instincts. All that he saw was a small, deserted village that was so empty that Arthur would have thought it to be abandoned if he hadn't seen the steady steam of smoke coming out of the majority of the houses. Other than that, though, it had the appearance of a complete ghost town.

The only signs of life were the guards that patrolled the few alleyways in-between the crooked houses. Because of their size, it didn't take Arthur long to find them. Because of the villages size, only five guards had been assigned to the village, and Arthur was pleased to see that they were taking their job seriously. The weight of worry that the curse had placed onto the shoulders had invoked fear into all of the guards, which meant that Arthur didn't have to worry about them not taking their job seriously.

While Arthur wished he could trust his guards with all his heart, he was no longer that naïve. He knew that, since his father had passed away only recently, that some of the guards were still loyal to him, and were still reluctant about the idea of Arthur on the throne. Since Uther had been hesitant about sending guards out to the outer villages for whatever reason, Arthur was worried that he would catch them in the act of slacking off, but he was pleased to see this wasn't the case. 

" _Fear is what makes people respect you._ " Uther's words echoed in his head.

Arthur bit his lip at the reminder, but quickly shook them off. He didn't want to rule like this. Not as a curse would rule.

As soon as the guards saw the approaching figure of Arthur, they gawped in disbelief before snapping to attention. There were two guards patrolling that night, the other three were inside the temporary outpost, most likely sleeping. Arthur nodded at the two guards, feeling slightly guilty as he knew that he had come here unannounced. It would do no good to apologise to them, however, and so he quickly shook the idea off as if it were nothing. Instead, he reached into the saddlebag and pulled out the letter.

Knowing that they were more orders, the two guards looked at each other before one of them took the letter cautiously, bowing his head slightly.

He took the letter in his hand and the two read it together, their eyebrows furrowed in thought. Arthur tried to recall what he had written:

**According to Gaius' research on our current situation, we have reason to believe that Camelot is cursed, and that six murders will be committed by the magical creatures that are responsible for our loss of hearing. By process of elimination, I have figured that the first murder will be attempted in one of the six outer villages. I ask that you keep an eye out for anything that you find strange. Do not attempt to hunt these creatures alone. You are always to be in another's company. That is an order.**

The guards exchanged glances one more time before nodding curtly to Arthur, showing that they understood. Whilst they had been reading, Arthur had surveyed the village once more. Their task shouldn't be too hard. If the creatures had placed a curse on the land for the means of revenge, then it would be on a village that was beneficial to the kingdom. This village held seven families and not a lot of livestock, which was the reason it had been overlooked by the rest of the kingdom. Arthur was certain that the creatures wouldn't attack here as the village was too small and they would be spotted by the guards immediately.

He didn't write his thoughts down for either of the guards, however, as he was worried that this would encourage them to slack off. Instead, Arthur returned the nod and turned back to his horse, entrusting the two knights to give his orders to the three sleeping in the outpost. He saw Merlin smile at him briefly and he nodded his head in acknowledgement to Gwaine's wink. Arthur knew that Gwaine had been surveying the village on top of his thoughts, and the wink most likely meant he had very similar thoughts. When Arthur chanced a look at Merlin, he saw that the servant was once again staring off into the distance with a far-away look on his face, but Arthur wasn't fooled. Despite the act of idiocy that Merlin seemed to wear like a suit of armour, Arthur could see right through it. He knew that Merlin was inspecting the village just as thoroughly as he and Gwaine had.

When Arthur turned back to look at the knights, he felt a surge of pride when he found that they had already resumed their patrol. Smiling slightly, he kicked his horse in the sides and rode off, Merlin and Gwaine following behind him.

With a brief look to the moon in the sky, Arthur saw that it was around midnight. Arthur frowned. What with arranging the knights into group and writing out orders for them all, the whole ordeal was taking longer than he thought. When he looked to see how his two friends were doing, he paused when he saw Merlin was rubbing his head.

Arthur retreated a little to ride beside his servant and raised his eyebrow at him once he had made eye contact. Merlin smiled at him, a silent thank you for the concern, but the slight shake of his head told Arthur that it was nothing. Arthur wasn't so sure, but let it pass. He didn't resume his place at the front.

0=II==========>

The ride to the other village that Arthur had assigned to them was quite a longer one than the previous, but Merlin didn't mind much. With the moon now high in the sky, the field that they were in was practically bathed in a shimmering, silver light, one that allowed them to see the path ahead clearly. Merlin was beginning to enjoy the slight breeze that was brushing against his cheeks when he gasped at a sharp pain that suddenly shot through his temple.

He gasped, but Gwaine and Arthur didn't hear. Instinctively, his hand reached up to rub it slightly, his forehead wrinkled as he wondered what could have caused it. Was it something he ate? Not getting enough sleep? Merlin pondered the two questions, but he was sure they weren't the answer.

Seeing Arthur in his peripherals, Merlin shot him a quick smile to shake off his concern and shook his head in an attempt to say that he was fine. When Arthur's gaze returned reluctantly back to the path ahead, Merlin's smile disappeared as he retreated back into his thoughts.

Since he was no longer paying attention to their journey, it didn't seem long at all when Merlin next looked up to find himself surrounded by wooden houses and the sight of Arthur hopping off his horse, approaching a nearby patrol of guards.

Oh yes, this village was much bigger. Merlin looked around in approval, the pain in his temple briefly forgotten. The houses were a lot more bigger and more frequent. There were stone pathways etched into the ground and some sort of plaza in the centre that resembled some sort of town square. In the distance, however, Merlin could see that the majority of the effort in this village went to the fields. Behind every house there was a field of varying shapes and sizes, all lined with crops. Merlin drunk in the sight in a sudden bought of nostalgia as he remembered clumsily shoving seeds into his own field back in Ealdor, only for his mother to scold him in fond exasperation before showing him properly, and then making him do it all again.

" _It was simple back then._ " He thought with a faint smile, " _No prats to look after, no kingdom to save, no destiny to fulfill..._ "

Merlin's smile faded as the headache returned in an attention-grabbing stab of pain. Merlin's hand flew to his temple once again. As he rubbed at it, he gasped slightly as he caught something that Arthur and Gwaine had missed.

He had seen a shadow move.

If Merlin had been an ordinary serving boy who wasn't living under the threat of execution every day, he would have brushed it off as something caused by a torch. Unfortunately for Merlin, he had seen things far stranger than this, and nothing in his life was ever a trick of the light.

Certain that Arthur wouldn't follow him and unsure of how to explain it to him in the first place, Merlin cast a quick glance to find that both he and Gwaine were explaining the situation to the guards, who were patrolling in a larger number thanks to the size of the village.

" _But if they're here,_ " Merlin couldn't help but wonder, " _Then who was patrolling now...?_ "

Shadow, headache and lack of patrol combined, Merlin was sure that something was up. He took his horse and directed in to the back of the houses, far away from the lights and from the guards.

Careful not to trample any fields, knowing first hand how hard it was to till one, Merlin guided his horse around the back of the houses, the woman that had attacked him that night flashing in his mind.

When his headache started getting stronger, Merlin figured with both a rushing sense of adrenaline and a nauseating sense of fear that he was getting close. More than that, he could feel his magic perk up at the sight of the field he had to inspect next. Merlin frowned at this. Whoever owned this field, they were using magic to keep it in order

" _So what?_ " Merlin thought, " _Sorcerers use magic to make their lives easier all the time. That's not important right now._ "

However, Merlin's thoughts faltered when his headache started getting stronger. If Merlin had thought it strange before, he was certain of it now. His headache was related to something, and Merlin was willing to bet it had something to do with his dream. Knowing his luck, mainly the creatures that were featured in it.

Merlin steered his horse back to the front of the houses, though they were out of Arthur's line of sight now. Merlin looked around, his stomach heaving out breaths faster and faster. Then, suddenly, he felt his breath hitch.

There, several feet in front of him, were six identical floating creatures, the spitting image of the one that had attacked him last night.

Only one of their dresses was splattered red.


	9. Cause the servant's playing with fire

Merlin could do nothing but stare, every limb in his body frozen in place as he stared at the creatures that were behind the curse in Camelot. They stared back, their heads tilted curiously, as if they were inspecting a new toy that they could play with.

The one in the centre, the one who had a red dress, the one with the weapon, looked slightly different then the others. Merlin didn't notice the change at first, since he was to shocked to acknowledge anything, but it numbly came to mind after a while.

While the other creatures had identical scars streaking across their necks, the one with the weapon now had a neck that was slightly wider, that no longer looked like a hollow, empty husk. After he noticed the difference, Merlin felt himself look for more out of a force of habit. This caused him to notice that while the rest of the creatures had golden eyes that burned with a primal flare, the one who had just murdered had calm, calculating blue eyes that radiated a steel chill.

They stayed like that for a few seconds, both parties staring at each other, quickly working out the others' weakness. The silence that blanketed the area reminded Merlin that he couldn't call for help, and that just made him tense all the more. While Arthur deserved to know the creatures behind the curse to his kingdom, Merlin didn't want him fighting against creatures when the sorcerer didn't yet know what the monsters were capable of.

After what seemed like an eternity, the one with the red dress floated forward, the scalpel glinting menacingly in the moonlight. Merlin clenched his fists as spells formed on his tongue, his eyes never leaving the sharp-looking blade.

However, just when the murderess was on the verge of the task, a pale, grey arm held out to stop her. The woman complied and looked at her sister for an explanation, her wide smile never wavering. The one in the white dress stared at her, which Merlin took to mean that the creatures could use telepathy. He sighed. As if things could get any worse.

Speaking of worse, Merlin surveyed his surroundings while the sisters had their attention distracted, looking for any signs of Arthur or Gwaine. The last thing he needed was either of them stumbling upon his using a spell to protect him.

But no, the only eyes that were on him right now were the ones belonging to his horse, who was looking at him expectantly.

" _Why don't you kill them now and get things over with?_ " The horse seemed to ask, " _You'll be saving five other people._ "

" _I know._ " Merlin thought, " _But I cant risk anyone seeing. Tensions are high right now, if anyone believes for a second that I'm a sorcerer then I'm toast._ "

" _Is that really better then letting five people die?_ " The horse seemed to ask. Immediately, Merlin felt a jab of guilt course threw him. With the slight shake of his head, he managed to ward it off.

" _Look at me._ " Merlin scolded himself, " _I'm talking to a horse when the threat lies just a few feet away. Idiot._ "

Sure enough, when Merlin returned his gaze to the group, all beady eyes now seemed to be on him. The only thing that had changed was that one of the women with a white dress had stepped forward, the scalpel now in hand. Merlin figured that the weapon had been given to one of the others because the one who had murdered had already had her fun. Now it was someone else's turn.

Merlin blinked and they were gone.

Panic gripped his heart as his eyes darted around, trying desperately to spot where they had gone.

" _Come on, come on!_ " Merlin's thoughts shouted at him, " _They cannot be this fast!_ "

A movement to the right and Merlin whirled just in time to see a small tendril of shadow slither into an alleyway.

" _Shadows! That's it!_ "

Merlin snapped his fingers and his palm became engulfed in flame, banishing all the shadows that surrounded him.

He span in a slow circle, trying to keep his eyes peeled for any flash of movement that came from the shadows.

He could feel his heart beating against his chance, and the world felt eerily strange as Merlin span an in silence. No drumming, no screaming, nothing. Merlin just hoped Arthur wouldn't catch him using magic.

Since Merlin had spent roughly two days in this new world of silence, he had heard nothing except Gaius' voice and had more or less gotten used to it. So when a laughter that seemed to be coming from all sides echoed in his brain, he visibly jumped in surprise and looked for the owner. When he eventually realised the laugh was coming from inside his head, though, he forced himself to calm down and continue keeping his eyes peeled on the shadows.

" _Look at you, chosen one._ " A voice slithered in his head, " _As helpless as a newborn babe._ "

" _What are you doing with that flame?_ " The same voice, but in a different direction, " _You should know by know that fire doesn't burn our kind._ "

" _I'm not like one of you!_ " Merlin sent automatically, as he had used this retort again thousands of other magical creatures. The voices in his head stayed silent for all but a few seconds before the voice spoke in another direction.

" _For all the powers you possess, I didn't think you would be this stupid._ " Giggles whispered into his mind, " _I thought you would be a challenge. I guess not. Shame._ "

Panic gripped his mind at the thought that he may not be powerful enough to stop them, but he quickly shook it off. He couldn't let them know he was afraid. Then again, he had a horrible feeling that they knew already. Still, he couldn't cower away. He couldn't let five other people die. At the thought of the red dress, a new anger surged through Merlin.

" _What did you do to them?_ " Merlin recalled the restored neck and the blue eyes, " _What did you do to the one you killed?_ "

More laughs sounded in the back of his head, reverberating and bouncing off his skull, invading his mind and poisoning his thoughts.

" _You shall see soon enough, chosen one._ " A slightly different voice, a cleaner, more human-sounding voice, spat into his head, " _You'll just have to wait your turn._ "

The fear continued to wrap around the pit in his stomach, but Merlin tried his best to ignore it. He could feel his breathing speeding up as his heart pounded against his chest.

As panic played tricks on his mind, Merlin's fear convinced him that he had seem a shadow lingering on the borders of his light in his peripherals. In a second, Merlin had whipped around to face them.

" **Bearne!** "

A rush of fire flared out of his hand to meet them, but the jovial laughs in his head told him that he had done nothing to harm them. Merlin lowered his arm, staring into the distance. That was one of his most powerful spells and it didn't do anything against them. And they knew that.

" _Quite the light show._ " The voice emerged from the laughter in an inhuman hiss, " _But we're needed elsewhere, but not to worry. This isn't the last you'll see of us._ "

Questions Merlin didn't want the answers to flared up in his mind as the last statement was burned into his mind, however, he was still to shocked to say anything. How was he going to protect Arthur against these?

" _Stop thinking about how to protect that ignorant fool!_ " The voice was so sharp and so sudden that Merlin flinched at it, " _You are one of us and yet you choose to humiliate yourself by sinking down to their level. A king dressed in rags!_ "

" _I'm helping them!_ "

" _You're entertaining them!_ " The one with the clear, human voice shot back, " _Look at Merlin, the clumsy servant. Look at Merlin, the hapless fool!_ "

" _You're wrong!_ " Merlin sent back to the darkness, though a voice in his head belonging to no creature seemed to think otherwise.

There was no retort on the other side. Merlin's anger about the subject matter had caused him to briefly forget that his magic was useless against him, and he was now back to circling around to the sound of the voices. He knew that the shadows were constantly moving, constantly whispering in his ear, just out of reach. What Merlin was going to do when he finally found them, he had no idea.

" _Let me guess._ " Merlin tried his best to sound confident, and he couldn't help but wince slightly when the voice came out higher then he would have preferred, " _This is the part where you want me to join you?_ "

" _Of course not._ " One of the women spat back, " _We have our sisters to look after and care for. We do not need your pathetic powers and constant worrying. Besides, you have a king to protect, do you not?_ "

Merlin narrowed his eyes. He didn't want these creatures talking about Arthur. He didn't want them going anywhere near him.

" _Calm yourself, we have no intention of hurting the king. We bear no ill will towards Camelot._ " Merlin gritted his teeth as he was reminded that the creatures could read his thoughts, " _We only came here to take what was rightfully ours._ "

Merlin thought about Gwaine and his constant drinking, Gwen and her constant smiles. A small smile flickered on his face before his face settled into an expression of determination.

" _I can't let you do that._ " Merlin announced, " _I made a promise to Arthur to protect Camelot, and I'm not letting you take anything else from it._ "

" _Oh really?_ " One creature hissed from behind him, " _What are you going to do?_ "

An answer formed in his head, but it quickly died as he remembered that he was unable to perform magic against them. His heart fluttered in fear as laughter sounded all around him.

" _I expect you've never felt this useless before, have you, Emrys?_ " Merlin wasn't able to tell where the voices were coming from anymore, " _Not to worry. You'll get used to the feeling soon enough._ "

Merlin fought to keep himself calm as he saw the shadows creep closer to him. The light was affecting them at all, they were coming closer-

" _If you hate being useless, then why don't you do something for us?_ " The human voice slicked into his ear like honey, sickly sweet and sticky.

" _What's that?_ " Merlin sent into their heads, his eyes glued on the moving shadows that were closing in one him. How many were there?

" _If you love your king so much, then why don't you send him a message?_ "

One, two, three four...

Five?

Merlin gasped as a blinding pain entered his back. He could feel himself coughing, he could feel himself screaming, but nothing came out.

" _Tell him we're coming._ " Was all he heard.

In his fading vision that was dotted with pain, Merlin could see five of the shadows had now formed back into their real forms, and fear gripped him as the one with the red dress, the one who was murdered, now looked completely human. 

Merlin tried to speak, tried to call for help, but all that came out was blood. He vaguely recalled the one who had stabbed him now taking out the weapon, but he hardly cared. The damage was already done and they knew it. The creatures laughed once more, the sound reverberating in his mind in mocking torment.

Panic flared up in his stomach again as he once more counted five figures. When he fought to turn his head the other way, he made a silent moan of despair when he saw one of the shadows racing back to where Arthur and Gwaine were.

No. No he couldn't let that happen.

Ignoring the other five, knowing hey would do nothing but mock and jeer, Merlin tried getting to his feet.

The world swayed around him, but Merlin clutched the stab wound and surged forward.

Thankfully, the wound wasn't that deep, but Merlin could already feel dark magic writhing around inside of him. It didn't matter if the wound itself was shallow. This was going to hurt.

Pain was already coursing through his veins, but Merlin fought onwards. He had to warn Arthur about them. He had to warn him about what they were up to-

However, what with his magic being useless, what with dark being infused into the scalpel that he had been stabbed with, it wasn't very long before he went crashing to his feet. 

Even then, Merlin tried dragging himself a few inches, but it was no use. As the world grew dark around him, Merlin could do little but pray that Arthur wasn't one of the six that the creatures intended to kill.

0=II==========>

As soon as they had arrived in the village, it didn't take Arthur very long to find the patrol and give them the note that told them his orders.

The guards read it and nodded at him, showing that they understood. At some point, Gwaine had joined them, grinning at the sight of one of his friends being part of the patrol.

Arthur rolled his eyes as the two exchanged nods with each other. As soon as he could, he shot the leader of the patrol a smile of thanks and dragged Gwaine away before the conversation could get any more animated.

When they had returned to their horses, Arthur realised that Merlin wasn't there.

When Gwaine went still, Arthur knew that he had noticed the same thing, and that the same fear had caused him to stop.

" _That idiot._ " Arthur thought as he stared blankly at the spot where Merlin's horse was supposed to be, " _What the hell was he thinking?_ "

Despite his anger, Arthur knew that Merlin was smart enough to not branch of from the group without good reason. That meant that he had seen something.

Arthur turned to Gwaine, who was now inspecting his surroundings. He tapped him on the shoulder and Gwaine turned to him, ready to listen to orders.

Arthur's first thoughts were to spit up and look for him, but if the other were to come across whatever had interested Merlin, then they wouldn't be able to call for help.

Frustration kicked at Arthur's sides as he was forced to pick a direction and stick to it.

They made their way deeper into the village, their eyes picking out every moving shadow, their cautious minds making them out to be snickering monsters and taunting creatures. Arthur forced himself to keep calm as exaggerated thoughts about what had happened to Merlin popped into his head, each one worse than the last.

" _He would have told me if he had seen anything._ " Arthur thought as he frantically looked for his servant, " _Why did he just go off like that...?_ "

When both he and Gwaine were failing to have any luck in finding the king's wayward servant, Arthur was beginning to grow more and more panicked. He knew Merlin could take care of himself. He had seen Merlin senselessly charge into action far to many times to count. But they had always known what they were up against then. What on Earth had possessed Merlin to take the threat on by himself?

After a few minutes of pointless searching, Arthur figured that Merlin's safety was more important than their own. He turned to Gwaine, who had been staying within the king's line of sight for the entire search, and signalled for him to go the other way. Gwaine raised an eyebrow at him, but nodded and complied anyway, rushing off to look for Merlin somewhere else.

Arthur cursed himself as he looked everywhere that he could think off. In the crowded fields, in the narrow alleyways, even in some of the windows to make sure Merlin wasn't tending to a sick person who had noticed his medical kit and signalled to him for help.

"He would have told me about something like that though." Arthur thought as he tried to peer into the darkness, " _He must have been taken. Or killed. Or..._ "

Arthur tried frantically to push his thoughts down as he went from one house to another. He hated it, feeling like it was an invasion of privacy, but if there was a chance that his servant was behind one of these closed doors, then Arthur was willing to put his worries aside. His efforts became fruitless however, as his servant didn't show up in any of the places that he looked.

When he heard a laugh in his head, he froze, shocked that the first sound he had heard in two days had caused him to feel such fear.

" _You won't find him there._ " The voice into his head, " _He's very good at this. Your servant has a talent for hiding, doesn't he?_ "

" _Who are you?_ " Arthur tried to speak aloud, but no words came out. The chilling laughter made him grip his sword even harder.

" _Don't try speaking to me, it won't work. You don't have magic._ "

Arthur gritted his teeth, backing up against the nearest house and pointing his sword in the direction the voice seemed to be coming from.

" _You can continue doing that if you like._ " The voice hissed in his mind, " _But wouldn't you rather know where you're servant is?_ "

" _What have you done to him?_ " In his panic, Arthur had tried to shout, but nothing worked. Fighting to keep his panic from being obvious, he continued pointing his sword at the torch that was casting shadows on the side of the house opposite him. That was weird. Weren't those shadows moving a little to much?

" _He's fine. Well, alive at least._ " Arthur's stomach dropped at the slight snicker in it's voice, " _But where on Earth is he? Hmm..._ "

Arthur was panting now, visible signs of panic be damned. The creature, whatever it was, had practically confirmed that Merlin was hurt.

"Where." Arthur knew the word would not be spoken aloud, but he tried to make it as obvious as he could by moving his mouth. The creature snickered at his attempts, which made him all the more uncomfortable.

" _You'll find him soon enough._ " The voice reverberated through his mind, " _We gave him a message after all. He can play his part, and then we'll give him everything he deserves._ "

Despite not knowing the exact location of whatever creature he was pointing his sword at, Arthur found his eyes being drawn to the torch that was casting the strange shadows. No matter how hard he tried to look at something else, he was always drawn back to the flame. How did the creature know exactly what he was thinking?

" _I don't._ " Came his answer, " _I don't know for sure what you're thinking since you don't have magic. But you're so predictable, King. No matter how hard you try to conceal them, I can read every emotion that flickers onto your face. It would be a shame if something serious happened to your servant, wouldn't it?_ "

Arthur's grip tightened on his sword as he pointed it towards the torch, but this only made the creature laugh harder.

" _So easy!_ " The laugh sounded like a mace scraping on armour, " _It's a wonder that servant kept you alive all these years._ "

Arthur was considering how much damage he would do if he truly did attack the torch, but his trance was broken when Gwaine came storming into view, his expression urgent.

" _Look at that, it seems your knight has found your servant._ " The voice hissed into his mind, " _Such a good friend isn't he?_ "

Gwaine ran up to him, frantically tugging at him and urging him to move. Arthur cast one last look back at the torch, intent on warning Gwaine, but he felt nothing from it now. Whatever that thing was, it had gone.

Arthur followed Gwaine into the narrow and twisty alleyways of the village, the layout so clumsily thought out that the village resembled a maze more than anything. In their rush to find Merlin, Arthur was briefly grateful that the pathways in Camelot were a lot more even and thought out.

Finally, they emerged and Arthur's heart dropped in despair at the sight of Merlin, who was crumpled on the ground in a small pool of blood.

Arthur rushed up to him, and just from the sight it was clear that he had been out for some while. It didn't take him long to figure out that the one that had done this had most likely been the thing that had spoken to him, but the creature was no doubt long gone by now.

His brain thinking a mile a minute, Arthur fought back the urge to hug and coddle Merlin and instead picked him up by the arms. Getting the gist, Gwaine grabbed his legs, looking just as worried as Arthur did.

Together, they hauled the injured servant back to the horses.


	10. The plague of silence spreads

After several frantic minutes of hauling the injured servant near to where they left the horses, Arthur finally allowed himself to calm down slightly. Acting on instinct alone, Arthur examined Merlin and tried to figure out his condition: his breathing was laboured, and a dark patch of blood was spreading by the second. His hair and his shirt were also drenched with sweat, meaning that a fever was threatening to break out as well. Arthur cursed under his breath, not that any of it could be heard anyway, and got to work.

When he was a child, Gaius had insisted on teaching him basic medical skills for treating battle wounds when he was older. While Arthur had protested against the lessons at the time, he now thanked the Gods that he and Gwaine had enough knowledge between them to do a semi-decent job of cleaning and bandaging Merlin's wounds. The process was agonisingly slow and frustrating, as they couldn't talk to each other, but they eventually managed it. The results were clumsy and far from the best, but they would have to do.

Several panicked minutes later, Merlin was lying unconscious, a bandage wrapped messily around his torso. After Gwaine and Arthur had allowed themselves a few seconds to rest, they were almost immediately back on their feet and hauling Merlin's limp form onto his horse, who had been chewing blissfully on the grass all this time.

While Gwaine tugged on the straps to make sure the servant wouldn't fall of the horse and injure himself further mid-ride, Arthur looked back towards the village, frowning. Something had happened there, he was sure of it. What with the disembodied voice that had threatened him and the attack on Merlin, it was obvious that whatever creature was behind it didn't want them investigating. A surge of anger flew though Arthur as he remembered Merlin's crumpled form, helpless on the ground. This creature, in her need to warn they'd, had attacked Merlin. They'd pay for that later. Now, however...

Arthur nodded towards Gwaine, who had placed a cautious hand on his shoulder. Arthur knew Gwaine was just as furious as he was, but that wasn't going to do them any good right now. They needed to get Merlin to safety. Together, Gwaine and Arthur hopped onto their horses and rode off, Merlin's horse being led by the reigns by Arthur.

Several minutes after they had started to ride, Arthur couldn't help but turn back to look at Merlin, who was dangling helplessly, swaying slightly as his horse trotted along. Arthur's eyes were fixed on the dark patch of blood that had dried on his shirt. They needed to return to Gaius as quickly as they could. Arthur cast his mind back to the multiple times he had seen this type of wound on unfortunate messengers and knew precisely what it meant: A warning to stay away. It wasn't to severe to kill, but it wasn't too shallow to be harmless. Arthur knew that if he and the knights were to continue to investigate, the creature would be forced to show themselves again, but this time they would be ready. Arthur had never listened before when messengers had turned up injured, and he wasn't going to start now, especially not when the one that had been injured had been his friend.

In a desperate attempt to get the injured form of Merlin out of his mind, Arthur cast his thoughts to strategy. The best thing to do now would be to regroup with the others and make sure Merlin was safe. Then, the knights could return to the village in the morning.

Arthur snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed that Gwaine's horse was riding beside him, and that the knight was looking at him in concern. Arthur met it with a small smile, one that both immediately knew was false. Gwaine sighed at the sight of the empty smile, but didn't push it any further, instead he turned his head back to check up on Merlin one more time before focusing on the moonlit path before him. Arthur bit his lip and quickly found himself doing the same. Sternly telling himself there was nothing he could do, he turned his gaze forward and continued onwards towards the meeting point of the knights.

When they had arrived, Arthur and Gwaine found that the knights were already there, waiting anxiously for them. When they finally spotted Gwaine and Arthur riding up to meet them, their faces broke out into relived smiles and grins, though they quickly dropped into expressions of concern and horror as soon as they saw the injured form of Merlin, but a quick, firm nod from Arthur was all the assurance that they were going to get. The knights, with roughly the same amount of medical training as Arthur, didn't need the prince to tell them that they needed to get Merlin to Gaius as quickly as possible, and that now wasn't the time to share what they had found. When Arthur pointed in the direction of the castle, the knights made no argument and followed silently behind him.

The solemn group went as fast as they could with an injured servant in tow. They all cast numerous anxious glances at him throughout the ride, and Arthur stopped them all multiple times to check on the wound, even changing his bandages a few times whenever the terrain had caused the wound to start bleeding again.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, Arthur allowed a small sigh of relief when he saw the peak of Camelot's castle loom in the distance, glinting like an oasis in the moonlight. Picking up the pace ever so slightly, still cautious about hurting Merlin, the knights followed his lead, the concerned glances increasing the closer they got to the castle, as if they were scared Merlin was going to drop dead at any second.

When they finally arrived in the castle courtyard, Arthur leapt of his horse and went for the straps that were tying Merlin down. He ignored the servants that were bumbling around him and the knights that were dismounting from their horses. All that mattered was that he got his friend to safety. When the came undone, Arthur caught the servant as he slipped from the horse and, not waiting for the others, made his way to Gaius' chambers.

The minute Arthur had entered with Merlin, Gaius was out of his seat and crossing the room in a heartbeat. Without wasting a second, Gaius led Arthur to the bed that was reserved for patients and let Arthur lower Merlin down onto it while he bustled around the room for clean water and paste.

When he had gotten all he needed, he joined Arthur at the bed's side and quickly unravelled the work that Arthur had done. Knowing he wouldn't be off any use standing by and watching, Arthur quickly got a pen and some parchment and sat down at the desk, scribbling down an explanation of what had happened.

This was the scene that the knights came across when they all entered the room several minutes later. Gaius was still busy treating Merlin's wound and Arthur was still writing down everything that came to mind about what he saw in the village. In his peripherals, he saw the knights file into the room and he gave them all a quick nod in greeting. A few moments later when Gaius turned around, he saw the knights and flashed them a quick smile, showing that, after a few days, Merlin would be all right.

The knights all thanked Gaius with several smiles of relief before they all followed Arthur's lead and sat down at the table, writing down their own findings in the other villages that they had been tasked with.

When they were all done, they all looked expectantly at Arthur. Understanding, Arthur passed his piece of parchment to Leon, who read it as quickly as he could before passing it round to Elyan. Arthur waited patiently as his knights read what had happened in the two northern villages that he, Gwaine and Merlin had went to. Arthur watched the knights expressions bite their lips just as he had done when they read that Arthur suspected that Merlin's wound was done to scare them away from investigating further. They were mad, but they needed to be careful. What with the curse of silence that the creature had managed to call, the knights were currently at a severe disadvantage, and any reckless mistakes caused by anger could easily cost them the battle.

After they had done with Arthur's explanation, Arthur moved on to reading about the findings of the other knights. Percival and Leon's parchment reported on how they had come across a tavern and had gone inside with the intentions of asking the customers if they had seen anything weird. When they had found a traveller, Percival and Leon explained that he had seemed more than happy to write down everything that he had seen during his travels in the forest. Arthur nodded slowly as he read, biting the inside of his cheek.

According to the traveller that Percival and Lancelot had met, many of the deer and the stags that had made their homes in the forest had been replaced by creatures of magic, such as griffins and chimeras. Arthur frowned at this piece of information and wrote his reply at the bottom of the page before handing it to Lancelot.

Did you ask this person what the creatures looked like?

Lancelot shook his head. Arthur frowned, but didn't write anything more down. How could the traveller know what griffins and chimeras looked like? Unless he had encounters with magic like this before. When a question had come to mind, Arthur leant forward to write it down.

Did this traveller say how long he was intending to stay in that tavern?

Lancelot read the question and quickly wrote his reply:

He complained that he was stuck at the tavern. The other kingdoms are convinced that this silence is some sort of a disease, and aren't letting anyone from Camelot back into their own kingdom. The traveller was upset because he wanted to get back to his family to see if he was alright, but other kingdoms are scared he's going to spread this silence sickness to other kingdoms.

Arthur scowled, scolding himself for having not thought of that before. Other kingdoms must have seen the display over Camelot that night, and must have guessed correctly that it was a curse. Because of that, they must not be letting anyone from Camelot cross the border, which meant hundreds of families are going to be divided. More than ever, Arthur was determined to get rid of this curse as quickly as he could.

He smiled at Lancelot and Percival for their information, before turning to Leon and Elyan, who had gone to the villages in the Far East. Leon handed him their findings and read it carefully while Leon and Elyan read Percival and Lancelot's reports about the traveller.

Leon and Elyan's report told that they had asked the patrol in the villages to keep an eye out, just like Arthur and Gwaine had done for their assigned villages. However, when they got to their biggest village, Leon described how most of the villagers weren't asleep in their houses like the curfew had demanded, but had instead decided to stick out their curfew as a community inside the village church so that they could all look out for one another.

According to Leon and Elyan, the patrol in charge of the village had explained to the two knights that the villagers were convinced that the King wasn't going to prioritize them, and so they had to look out for themselves, and so the village elder had ordered that everyone look out for each other and for every resident to spend the night in the church. Leon and Elyan then went on to describe how they had taken on some initiative and had gone inside the church to inspect the scene for themselves. What they had seen were countless villagers looking after one another. Women were caring for children and assuring them with hugs while the men sharpened the pitchforks and whatever else they could find, making sure that the children didn't see them and ask questions.

Arthur lowered the report, mixed feelings blooming in his chest. He smiled slightly at the thought of one of his villages looking out for one another, but bit his lip as he remembered why they were doing so. Did they really think he didn't care? Did they really think they were on their own in this? Arthur's mind raced with ways on how he could make it up to them, but the sudden realisation that all his knights were looking at him quickly snapped him out of his thoughts. Gaining his people's favour could wait. Now he needed to actually make sure they were safe.

At the sight of all his knights waiting expectantly, Arthur mulled over his choice of words and quickly scribbled out his next orders. In his peripherals, he could see that Gaius was still hard at work in treating Merlin's wound. Hopefully Merlin would be awake soon enough to give them some information about the creature. Right now they could use all the help they could get.

When he had done, he turned the paper round and watched as the knights led into examine it.

**We've done enough work for now, all of you are dismissed to get some rest. Tomorrow, we ride at dawn as a group to check out the village where Merlin was attacked since that's where the creatures struck. We will then spend the remainder of the day going to the village church and then to see if we can talk to this traveller for more answers. We won't be splitting up, we'll be travelling as a group. Hopefully by then Merlin be in a well enough state to give us some answers. You're dismissed.**

The knights gave him a brief nod of farewell before departing one by one, but not before casting one last glance at Merlin. After they had all left, Arthur rose from his seat and waited until he had gained Gaius' attention. Already knowing Arthur's question, Gaius quickly wrote down his answer and handed it to Arthur before returning back to his work.

**Merlin will be fine. It'll take him a few days to fully recover, but it'll be another day or so before he's well enough to answer your questions. However, this begs the question, if the creature truly did want to kill someone in that village, then why didn't they kill Merlin? I think they had already completed their purpose before Merlin had found them.**

A chill ran through Arthur as he read the last few sentences. He didn't want to believe it, but it seemed to be true. There had been a murder right in front of him and he had been to busy crying over his servant to notice anything. Stupid, stupid!

Arthur made to leave the room, but Gaius grabbed him by the shoulder and flipped the page of the parchment he was writing on, showing that there was already a response ready and waiting.

**What is the use of leaving for the village now, at this time of night? I know it's distressing to think about Arthur, but a dead body isn't going there. You're not going to be much use to anybody if you don't get any sleep now.**

After Arthur had gotten over the brief shock of Gaius predicting his actions, he realised that Gaius was right. His kingdom didn't need any reckless actions right now. What they needed were level-headed reasonings and smart decisions, though Arthur couldn't for the world of him think how he was going to manage to sleep with the knowledge that one of his people had been murdered. He scribbled his response.

**Very well. But we ride at dawn.**

With that, Arthur stormed out of the room, leaving the knights' reports over the desk so that Gaius could read over them and find their plans out for himself.

Gaius watched the prince leave with a sigh. He knew that leaving a dead body unattended for a few hours was awful, but everyone needed rest, otherwise they weren't going to be of any use in the morning. And if they were to back out into the night again, what if the creature attacked them again? They couldn't risk it. They'd already risked enough already.

Gaius cast a glance to the unconscious form of his ward and sighed. Idiot boy. Why was he the first one to get hurt? Surely it was high time for one of the knights to do their job for once and protect a citizen of Camelot?

Gaius frowned at the thought, scolding himself for thinking that of the knights. They were doing their best, and Gaius knew that they all thought the world of Merlin. So why was it that even with all the knights, his powers, and the prince of Camelot himself looking out for him, he still got hurt? Perhaps he truly was an idiot.

Gaius shook his head, smiling at the thought. Merlin was going to be okay, it was just going to take a while. As careless as ever, Merlin had bitten of more than he can chew with a creature of magic and had paid the price. Fortunately in the past, the creatures that Merlin had fought against had acknowledged the fact that he was Emrys, the Goddess' favourite, and that seriously harming him would but them in the bad books with the Gods. Therefore, when Merlin was warding of an Ogre or a Pixie, Merlin had learnt that there was nothing much to worry about.

But now...

Like Arthur, Gaius had seen this sort of wound on messengers before, and knew exactly what it was.

A warning.

Whoever was out there, they were far from friendly...


	11. into their house into their beds

It took an age for Arthur to finally fall asleep, and took even longer for the morning to actually arrive. Eventually, Arthur was woken up by his servant and he spent a few seconds in blissful ignorance, only for his smile to fall when he realised what had happened the night before and that his servant was George.

" _The only good thing to come out of this damn curse_ " Arthur thought as he clambered out of bed, " _Is that I don't have to deal with George's brass jokes_ "

Sure enough, neither of them were able to utter a word to each other, but George was still as efficient as ever. There was an entire feast laid out on the table before him, but Arthur paid no attention to it. He grabbed the loaf of bread that nearest to him, gave a nod of approval to George and then went to the centre of the room, arms spread and waiting to be dressed.

After several concerned and confused looks from George, the manservant quickly got the message and got Arthur dressed in record time, though that really wasn't an achievement considering Merlin was his only competition.

Arthur gave him another nod and left his room, biting into his bread as he made his way to the stables, thinking about all that he had learnt the night before.

He had missed someone being murdered, even though it had happened seconds before he had arrived in the village. Now that they had been successful, the creatures were bound to show up again, and Arthur just had to figure out where. 

He finished his bread as he stepped out into the fresh morning air and marched his way to the stables, not caring one bit for the golden light that shimmered on the blades of the grass or for the coolness that the shadows of his castle protected him with in the morning heat

When he got to the stables, he was grateful to see that one of the knights, most likely Leon, since he was the only one who ever thought ahead, had told the stable boys to prepare for their journey before heading off to bed. Arthur gave them a smile of acknowledgement as they bustled around, packing for their journey.

It wasn't long before the knights showed up, just as diligent and focused as he had been. If the mystery of the labyrinth in the middle of the woods hadn't been enough to convince them that the stakes were high, then the warning that the creatures made of their friend definitely had. Not a single smile was exchanged between the group as they got onto their respective horses.

It took a few minutes for the stable boys to make sure they had everything for a long days ride, but soon they were off, most likely let off early since the stable boys could feel the impatience radiating off their king. 

It felt weird riding through a field without being able to hear the thundering of hooves on the ground, but Arthur thought little of it. He kept his eyes focused on the path ahead, eager to get to the small village as quickly as he could, and yet filled with dread as he wondered what he was going to find there.

He felt a little guilty for not resting the horses as much as he should of, but the village appeared in the horizon over the next hour because of it. However, as soon as they got closer, Arthur could tell something was wrong. The pit in his stomach grew as he witnessed people running around in a panic, desperately trying to explain to people what had happened, only to burst into tears when they realised that they couldn't.

There were two figures, a son and a father by the looks of it, who had built a makeshift platform in the middle of the square and were trying to get people's attention, but it wasn't working.

Arthur looked at the display in horror. No doubt the news of the murder had spread. The knights took all this in with grim, dire expressions before they all dismounted from their horses.

The guards that had been patrolling the village that night were the first to notice that Arthur had arrived. They came running out of their outlook, waving about parchments that were full of explanations, but Arthur simply shook his head at them, refusing to read what they had to offer. Instead, he simply marched into the village and to the father and son that were rioting in the middle of the square, mindlessly waving their arms about and trying to get people's attention without the help of noise.

Given that Arthur and his knights were in full armour, it didn't take long for the father and his son to notice them marching up. Immediately, the father leapt down from his makeshift stage and dragged his son down with him. They both got to one knee, but Arthur quickly snapped his fingers as a sign for them to get up, not having the patience to deal with the pleasantries.

Understanding, the father rose, his head still bent and pointed towards a house that had flowers and candles surrounding the entrance. When Arthur looked back towards him, the son, who had a tattoo on his arm declaring his name "Adam" dragged a finger across his throat, confirming Arthur's worst fears.

As the father nudged Adam in a reminder to be polite to the King, Arthur paid no attention to them and made his way to the house, his knights in tow behind him.

Arthur lifted a hesitant fist on the door before quickly realising that the people inside wouldn't be able to hear him. He didn't want to barge in on people like this but... he sighed to himself, not seeing an alternate option. Instead, he turned to his knights and gestured to Elyan, Leon and Gwaine. While they stood attentive, Arthur quickly scribbled down orders:

**Go examine your surroundings and see if you can calm down the villagers, not all of us need to go inside the house. Meet us back here in fifteen minutes.**

Once all three knights had read the orders, they nodded and carried them out. Leon seeked out the father and son again, Leon comforted a sobbing family and Gwaine headed to the nearest tavern for some intel.

That left Arthur, Lancelot and Percival to open the door to the house and step inside.

When they were met with the wide, alarmed eyes of a crying young man, Arthur immediately put his arms up to show that he meant no harm. When the young man got a good look at who had just wondered into his mouth, he dropped to one knee.

Arthur, who didn't miss the tears that were falling onto the rickety floor, patted the man's shoulder and smiled at him sadly. On the man's hand was a ring, and a pang of sadness was added to the feeling of dread as Arthur quickly figured what this man's relationship with the victim was.

With the dire atmosphere in the air and the white flowers that were still visible through the window, it was obvious what the knights were there for. With a forlorn jerk of his head, the man led Arthur into a small room.

Arthur held his breath as he stepped in and beheld the sight before him. The body itself had been covered by the sheet, but it did little to comfort Arthur's rising need to vomit. The sheets were splattered with red, as were several spots of the wall behind the body. The blood was tinged with shadows, a constant reminder that the blood had long since dried, and that they body had been there for a long time. 

A barge against his shoulder quickly told Arthur that the man had quickly left the room, and Arthur didn't blame him. Swallowing down the bile that was quickly forming in his throat, the king grabbed the parchment that now permanently had a home in his belt and got to work. 

**Percival, you and I will search the room top to bottom for clues. Lancelot, go and comfort the man and ask him a few questions.**

When he showed the parchment to the others, they quickly understood and carried his orders out without question. Lancelot left the room to go and find where the man had run off to.

Holding his breath, Arthur approached the bed, hating what he was doing. Who was he to barge in on their home to demand answers? Who was he to ask questions while the man was in mourning? Trying to remind himself it was so that five other people could escape with their lives, Arthur forced himself to reach out and pull back the covers.

The body was staring straight at him, wide blank eyes staring at anything at everything, while seeing nothing all the same. The mouth had frozen in a piercing scream made for deaf ears and her blonde hair was now sullied and matted with dry, crusty shadows of blood. Arthur tried his best not to look at anything for to long, but it was possibly one of the most challenging fights he had ever participated in. Confronting a person who he had failed to save. The only battle Arthur would never win.

The neck was the worst.

A large, gaping hole so big that Arthur could see the darkness that the bedsheets on the other side had turned into. No matter what he did or what he thought, nothing could persuade him to tear his eyes away from the void that stared back.

" _She was killed by a wound to the neck_ " Arthur forced himself to analyse as sweat dripped down his forehead, " _Though that's not like any wound I've ever seen before..._ "

Why the neck? She was sleeping? Why not the heart? She would have been vunerable enough. So why?

Arthur closed his eyes and forced the abomination from his mind.

" _There was nothing you could do._ " He told himself as he quickly pulled the covers back up. Except there was. He could have stayed here and done lookout himself. He could have stayed here while he looked after Merlin. If he had only known what lived in the shadows...

In his peripherals, he could see Percival looking under the bed and on the bed stands, looking for anything that could have been a clue, though Arthur noticed that he was staying as far away from the body as he could.

Arthur didn't blame him. Whatever this murder was, it certainly wasn't normal. There was a darkness to it, a similar kind of darkness that Arthur felt whenever they were about to do battle with Morgana. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't good. 

A tap on his shoulder quickly brought him to the surface of his dire thoughts. When he turned around, Percival was there, something dangling from in-between his fingers.

A hair.

A very long, dark strand of hair that Percival had found on the floor beside the bed. Immediately, Arthur was reminded of the ghastly image that Merlin had drawn a few nights ago of the creature that had attacked him and had given him dreams. The pit in his stomach grew all the more as the thought crossed his mind that they may be one and the same.

Arthur nodded his thanks to Percival and the bulkier knight wrapped the hair around his finger so that he wouldn't lose it. Whatever the creature was and whatever it was planning, it and its brethren had attacked Merlin and a killed a villager last night, and Arthur was going to make sure that they paid for it.

Not wanting to spend a second longer in the room, Arthur left with Percival in tow and made their way into the second room, where Arthur could see Lancelot comforting the man by putting his arm around his shoulder. When Lancelot noticed the two standing in the doorway, he got up and quickly handed them his report on the situation.

I haven't been able to get any information out of him since he can't read or write. It seems he and his fiancé were farmers taking care of his fiancé's sick mother.

Arthur bit his lip and nodded. It would have been helpful if they had been able to get some more information, but Arthur wasn't going to push him. Their was a figure in the rickety bed that Lancelot and the man were sitting on, but she was asleep. She had her eyes squeezed shut and her eyebrows furrowed, as if she could tell something bad had happened, even without waking. Arthur hated the thought of telling her that her daughter was dead, and quickly pushed the thought out of his mind. Instead, he took out his piece of parchment and wrote what he wanted to do next.

_Let's bury a grave for her. It's the least we can do._

Lancelot and Percival nodded before they went to fetch the shovels that were in the other room. Watching what they were doing with tearful eyes, the man put two and two together and went outside to join them.

With four men on the job, it didn't take long to dig a grave under a tree beside the house. After it was deep enough, Percival and Lancelot went inside to retrieve the body. Whilst they were doing so, people from the village started taking a notice to what they were doing and came outside with candles, watching mournfully as their friend and neighbour was carried to her resting place.

The man who would have married her placed the final heap of soil and patted it with a sense of finality, a single tear splashing onto the shovel as he did so.

" _They're not going to get away with this." Arthur determined as he watched the man with sadness._

The rest of the knights had gathered during the funeral, and were now looking at Arthur expectantly. Arthur turned his attention to the sun, which was now high in the sky.

It must have been the middle of the day. They had just enough time to visit the village that were working together and the traveller in the tavern before returning to the castle to check up on Merlin.

As they walked to their horses, Arthur gathered the attention of his knights and pointed East so that they understood where they would be going next.

Leon and Elyan, since they were the two that had gone to inspect that village the night before, now led the way with confidence and with a sense of urgency. Since it was clear that the creatures weren't going to stop, it meant that they were on a time limit.

Thankfully, their time in the village had given their horses plenty of time to rest, and so it wasn't long at all before they had reached the neighbouring village. It was a lot smaller than the previous one, with houses jotted around the place in no particular order. In the very centre of the town, however, was a large, wonky structure that bore a large cross over the door, letting Arthur and the knights know that it was the church that had been featured in Leon and Elyan's reports.

There was nobody around. The guard patrol had been informed that the creatures only came out at night, and were now sleeping the day away in preparation for their next shift. The only sign of activity in the entire village was the small, steady stream of smoke that was coming out of the church chimney. Arthur turned his head towards Leon in a questioning glance, but all Leon did was nod in confirmation. This was exactly the way that had found the village the previous night. 

Arthur dismounted and tied his horse up at the outpost, the knights quickly following suit. With a jerk of his head, Arthur then walked up to the church door and opened it, since no one would hear the knock.

He then stepped back in alarm as pitchforks, torches and knives were brandished at him. Similarly to what he did before, Arthur put his hands up to show that he didn't mean any harm. In front of him were stacks of hay to sleep on, rations of food, and an entire village's worth of husbands, wives and children all with their eyes trained on him, their weapons ready to strike.

When they saw that it was their king, none of them bowed. Their weapons were lowered slightly, but their eyes narrowed in distrust and disliking. Arthur's heart panged with grief, but he tried his best to ignore it. 

A tense silence filled with hatred settled in the air as Arthur shifted uncomfortably, not entirely sure what to do. He hadn't really dealt with an entire village that had hated him before.

Finally, his eyes were drawn to the eldest in the village, whose hatred shone the most clearly. He scribbled something down on a stack of parchment that everyone had beside their hay, stood up and marched over to Arthur, shoving it in his face. Arthur scowled at his rudeness but took it anyway, his knights leaning forward slightly to read it over his shoulder.

**Leave, Your Majesty. You've done nothing for us in time past and you will do nothing for us now. I have looked after my village for many years, and I will not have you take the credit. We can take care of ourselves, you've seen we're quite capable. On your way out, please see to it that your meddling patrol quit sticking their noses into our business. Thank you.**

Arthur blinked several times at the message, reading it over several times. While he did so, the watchful glares he felt on his shoulders never failed to spike his nerves.

" _They have a point_ " Arthur found himself thinking, " _If they all stuck out for one another, than what can I do that's any different?_ "

Arthur's brain whirled as his eyes scanned the church. Things were so crowded that he could barely see the floor underneath. Their were fish in buckets of melting ice, moulding bread, a scattered arrangement of cheeses and hams, animals of all kings clustered into a corner filled with dung, and beds placed where there was room. There was no sense of organisation or order. It looked like chaos. When he looked at the man, Arthur could tell that he knew it too. Making his mind up, Arthur quickly flipped the older man's parchment and wrote his reply.

**If that's what you so desire. I'm not going to ask the outpost to leave since I need constant reports, but everything else I'll do without complaint. However, I've seen the state of your church and it's no secret that you're in dire need of recourses. I will send what I can from the royal kitchens to you and to neighbouring villages. If you can take care of yourself, then please take care and have the best of luck. It's the least I can do.**

Arthur handed the parchment back to the old man who read it over, some of the village children coming to join him. After he had read it several times over, he nodded his approval and handed it back. Arthur returned the nod, bowed to him and left with his knights.

Arthur refused to leave any trace of thought on his face, but the knights were all exchanging proud glances behind his back. They knew how far he had come, and there was no doubt that Merlin would be proud of him as well.

Arthur marched back to his horse and mounted, deep in his thoughts. If the village thought that they could take care of themselves, then that seemed good enough to him. They had pitchforks and torches, and if some of them were going to be awake at all times then perhaps the creatures would leave their village alone and leave for a new one? 

Arthur frowned, but ultimately decided that it was best to continue with their current mission of finding the traveller in the tavern. With a quick gesture to the west to let his knight know where they were going, he quickly kicked his horse in the side and rode off.


	12. into your forests into your fields

The village in the west took a lot longer to get to, and more than once Arthur found himself giving his panting horse a pat on the mane. When they had left the previous village it had been midday, and, with nothing but farms and fields for miles, there was nowhere to hide from the sun that was now looming over them. Arthur had considered going to a farm and asking for water, but Lancelot had shown him on a single hand just how many more minutes it would take them to arrive, so Arthur had settled on one more reassuring pat as his horse trudged on. Sure enough, around three minutes later the village loomed on the horizon, Percival’s point and nod confirming for them all that this was their next stop.

With the end of their laborious journey in sight, the morale of the knights slowly began to rise. Sweat was quickly swiped of their foreheads and backs were hastily straightened as the knights tried not to look as exhausted as they felt. Arthur did the same, trying to distract himself from the heat with the thought of Merlin and how he would have found a way to complain to Arthur, even if Arthur wouldn’t have been able to hear it. The very thought made Arthur smile. Then, not a second later, the smile fell as Arthur realised just how much he was worried about his idiot servant. Forcing images of his wounded friend from his head, Arthur dismounted his horse and surveyed his surroundings.

The village was a lot busier than he had been expecting. Their was a small, run-down market that were still managing to do business, and people that were drifting around the streets, smiling and nodding to their friends, which seemed to be everyone. Arthur watched the display with wonder, his smile reappearing on his face. Their wasn’t much to their village at all: a few houses, some pens, a stable, market, tavern and square, but even so, the sight of the small community going about their daily routine in such a perilous time filled Arthur with the hope that maybe, just maybe, things could turn back to normal. All it took to restore hope was a smiling face.

When Arthur turned back around to observe his knights, he could tell that the sight had cheered them up immensely as well. Smiles not unlike his own had appeared on their faces as they stared in amazement at the humble little village that, in the face of all the horrors present in the world, had managed to stick to their normal lives. There was something defiant in that fact that made Arthur admire them.

As soon as they had sought out a lake that had the village stables stationed next to it, Arthur and his knights parked their horses, who were now gratefully taking large gulps of water. While the horses drank, Arthur read the report that Lancelot had handed him when they had arrived in the village:

**The traveller that we talked to was staying at the Settle Our Sons tavern in room 3. We had to pay him a little to get him to talk, and he is from an entirely different kingdom altogether, so I’m not sure how hard it’s going to be to part him with some more information. I believe that the sight of Percival was the only reason why the traveller told us anything in the first place. After all, Percival looks quite… intimidating.**

Arthur read the piece again and again, mulling the words over as the knights fed and tended to the horses. The guy was from a different kingdom, so he wasn’t obliged to tell them anything, it was just intimidation that had caused him to talk last night. Arthur frowned. He didn’t want to have to turn it into an interrogation, so the use of swords were out of the question… he needed a back-up plan, just in case.

He frowned, deep in thought. What was the best way to go about this situation? The traveller had already seen Percival and Lancelot, so it was possible that he would refuse to talk if he saw the two again. Leon was a head knight, he’d be good at imitation… but even so, Lancelot had reported that the traveller hadn’t given them everything, so imitation was ruled out. How did they go about this?

Someone the traveller could trust. Someone who had the appearance of a friend. Someone the traveller could grab a drink with.

The second the thought had crossed his mind, Arthur looked up to see Gwaine teasing his horse with a red apple, only to then yank it back and take a bite out of it himself. Get the guy drunk and make him talk. Gwaine would be perfect for that. But Gwaine would also get drunk and that would make his memory unreliable.

A frown spread across Arthur’s face as he pondered the situation. Percival, Lancelot and Leon were out of the question. Gwaine on his own was unreliable. That only left himself and Elyan. Elyan was a bit of a lightweight, and Arthur didn’t really trust himself that much with alcohol either. What with the daily pressures of the kingdom and the bucket of stress dumped on him weekly, Arthur made sure to keep clear of alcohol for the most part since he never knew when he might need a clear head, but for this task it may have just been the very thing that he needed.

With the confidence that he had made the right decision, Arthur scribbled a few words at the bottom of Lancelot’s report and marched up to Gwaine. There, he snatched the apple out of Gwaine’s grip, took a bite out of it himself, and shoved the report into Gwaine’s hand. Arching an eyebrow in interest, Gwaine looked down to see two words:

**You’re up.**

With the coin that Arthur carried around with him in case of an emergency, it wasn’t that hard to go up to the market and buy the very first few pairings of clothing that he saw. Seeing that the King himself had come to their very own marketplace, the shopkeepers had tried shoving the coin back when Arthur placed it on the counter, but eventually Arthur just gave up, left the coin on the counter and marched off, leaving the shopkeeper with no choice but to take the coin. With two pairs of clothing that were fit for a couple of peasants, Arthur and Gwaine quickly seeked out the nearest lump of trees, which thankfully happened to be the forest on the outskirts of the village, and promptly got changed.

At least, that was if Arthur hadn’t had trouble with his armour.

Gwaine watched in amusement as Arthur tugged and tugged, though nothing seemed to be coming of. Arthur huffed in frustration. He had untied all the straps hadn’t he? Then why…?

Arthur struggled some more, then, during a temporary retreat, he shot an angry glare at Gwaine, who was leant against a tree and eating a second apple. Seeing the glare, Gwaine put his hands up and waved his apple about, trying to get across that his hands were full, and he therefore couldn’t help. Arthur rolled his eyes and got back to work in trying to get out of his cape. Gwaine lowered his arms and bit into his apple, his eyes trained on the one knot that was hidden just below Arthur’s armpit. Sure, he could help Arthur get out of his armour. Sure, he could point out the little knot to him that was the cause for all his suffering. But…

Gwaine took another bite out of his apple, trying his best to hold back a smirk.

Finally, around 10 minutes later, Gwaine and Arthur were decked out in peasant clothes. Arthur hadn’t had the time or patience to pick out the correct sizes for both of them, and so they both looked a little worse for wear. Arthur’s top was too small for him, and squeezed a little in all the wrong places. What bothered Arthur the most though were how his sleeves were limiting his arm movements. How could he swing a sword when he couldn’t even swing his arms? He sighed, and tried to remind himself that he only needed to be in these clothes for a few hours.

The thing that frustrated Arthur the most, though, was that somehow he had managed to pick the perfect clothes for Gwaine. The fabric, while scratchy, seemed to hug him perfectly. His sleeves were long and hid his muscles from view, and his breeches somehow looked rather snug, albeit a little short on him. That being said, Gwaine, with his peasant clothes and rumpled, windblown hair, looked perfectly at home in the little village. On the other hand, Arthur, with his too-small clothes and neatly combed hair, looked a little like a mixed-bag.

“ _At least Merlin isn’t here to see this._ ” Arthur thought to himself as he saw the rest of the knights’ half-hearted attempts to hold back snickers. Rolling his eyes, he let his thoughts wonder back to the laughter of his servant, though that plan quickly failed. Every time he tried to picture Merlin, all he could do was think about was his broken body on the outskirts of Camelot, with no one around to help him. Nothing but the shadows.

Shaking the sudden chill that had quickly enveloped his entire body, Arthur instead fished a piece of parchment from his belt and wrote down his next orders, which he then handed out to his knights:

**Percival, Lancelot: Keep clear of the tavern, we don’t want to risk anyone recognising you. Instead, go to the outpost in this village and talk to the knights in charge here for their daily report.**

**Elyan, Leon: Go to the marketplace and say that you’re knights recently assigned to the outpost, if word were to spread that the King’s own knights came here they’d get worried. Instead, ask the herb stall owner if he saw anything strange in the forest when he last went to collect herbs. If we don’t get any new information, at least we can get at least someone to back the traveller up.**

**Gwaine and I will go into the tavern and try our best to befriend him and get him to tell us everything. Don’t come into the tavern looking for us. Once you’re done with your tasks, wait for us by the horses.**

Once all of the knights had read their particular order, they all nodded and went off to do their respective task, leaving Arthur alone with Gwaine, who had already drifted from their small group and winking at a nearby woman. Sighing, Arthur rolled his eyes and pushed the image from his mind, opting to look up at the sky instead. The sun had moved a little, but was more or less still high in the sky. If they were lucky, they might just be able to catch him while he was finishing his lunch.

Dragging Gwaine away from his relentless flirting, Arthur made his way towards the tavern. Whilst initially protesting, the minute Gwaine realised where they were going, Gwaine quickly cut it out and walked alongside Arthur with a skip in his step.

They entered and weren’t surprised to find that it wasn’t very busy. After all, a tavern’s best hours were in the evening, so at midday Arthur and Gwaine took in the sight of an almost empty tavern. There were a few members of staff milling about, and a few people having lunch. In the corner, a bartender was lazily swirling a cloth around a dirty mug, preparing for the buzz that would be coming in a few hours. On a small table that was tucked in the corner, however, was the guy that Lancelot had described: Brown, mousy hair, green eyes and a constantly tapping foot. Sure enough, when Arthur looked down, he could see that the restlessness and impatient nature of the man was betrayed by the steady tapping of his boot against the wooden floor.

Gwaine and Arthur shared a nod as they approached the bar. Noticing their approach, the bartender smiled at them and pointed to the sign:

**Drinks more expressive before the evening.** Arthur smiled to show he understood and then fished out enough money to buy both him and Gwaine a drink. The bartender then took the money of the desk and got to work, but not before nodding to the hefty pile of parchment that was in the corner of the bar. Arthur figured that since they were in the guise of peasants, the man had thought that they didn’t have any parchment for themselves. Arthur smiled his thanks, but didn’t take any. He had his own, and there were going to be other people later that would need it more than he did. So, he stood by and waited patiently for his drink to be poured, and Gwaine stood by patiently and followed suit.

When Arthur looked at him, however, he could see faint lines of frustration that were etched into Gwaine’s face. Arthur knew first hand that Gwaine enjoyed talking to people and found befriending them incredibly easy. How frustrating must it have been to be unable to talk to people in a social place? From that perspective, Arthur could understand why the man seemed to be constantly impatient. Far away from his home, from his family, and unable to speak to anyone.

Arthur was snapped out of his thoughts when his and Gwaine’s drinks appeared on the counter. After smiling their thanks, Gwaine and Arthur took their drinks and sat down on the bench opposite to the one the man was sat on. When they did sit down rather abruptly, the man jumped in surprise. After he had recovered, he raised his eyebrow in a question that most likely meant _Can I help you?_

Arthur gave one of his best smiles to the man to show that they didn’t mean any harm, and then set about writing down what he wanted to know on a piece of parchment. Meanwhile, Gwaine shook hands with the man and then opened his mouth to say something, only to close it again in agitation when he realised the man wouldn’t be able to hear. The man smiled in sympathy in Gwaine’s attempts, and then looked over at Arthur as the prince handed him a piece of parchment:

**Good day! We were just passing by and wanted company. Mind if we stop by for a chat?**

The man smiled as he read the message and Arthur allowed himself to relax. If there was anything he had learnt about going undercover, it was not going to the subject at hand immediately. They had to gain his trust first. So, while Gwaine cheered up and passed his own series of messages to the man, Arthur tried his best to relax and force his doubts from his mind. Plastering on a smile, he quickly scribbled down his offer to buy the man another drink.

Fortunately for Arthur, it seemed that the only thing people could talk about nowadays was the curse that had infested only Camelot. After learning that the man’s name was Samuel, it wasn’t long before the man was sharing his own theories of what could have happened. While Arthur feigned interest, he already knew that they weren’t true, and didn’t match up with the information that they already had. Arthur kept the smile glued on his face though as he grappled with the frustration in his chest. Finally, after pondering on wether Arthur should risk asking the question himself, Samuel passed over the question himself.

**Have you guys seen any sign of the monsters in the woods?**

Sitting up with interest, Arthur shook his head with a newfound vigour. Sam took his note back and started eagerly writing his story down while Arthur and Gwaine looked on in anticipation. After what seemed like an age, Samuel passed his message back over it and Arthur and Gwaine poured over it together.

**I was walking in the forest on the first day of the curse, wanting some time alone to myself, when I cam across this massive wall! It was made entirely out of greenery and I couldn’t see where it ended, so I think there must be something on the other side, but it just came out of nowhere! It had to be magic, so I was just about to turn and run the other way when I saw movement in the bushes. I scrambled up a tree and hid in the leaves. Not a moment too soon, a griffin the size of a horse appeared! Thankfully, it didn’t spot me, but I saw it walk into the wall of leaves, and it just swallowed the entire monster up! Whatever’s on the other side of that wall, it’s being heavily guarded by that griffin.**

Arthur finished the story and leant back a little to look at Sam. He was staring at him with wide eyes, almost as if her were desperate for Arthur to believe him. Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Arthur took out his own piece of parchment and scribbled a question:

**How did you know it was a griffin?**

At the sight of the question, Arthur didn’t miss the man bite his lip slightly and look to the side for a moment before sliding his response over.

**I saw it in a book once.**

Arthur became aware of Gwaine looking over his shoulder at the answer, and he could tell by Gwaine’s frown that he didn’t believe it to be true either. As if he had read Arthur’s mind, Gwaine quickly raised his hand up and ordered another round of drinks to loosen up Samuel’s tongue.

The drinks came a few minutes later and Samuel shot a thankful grin to the two before downing the drink almost in one.

“ _Probably trying to get the image of a griffin out of his head._ ” Arthur thought to himself, almost impressed by the display. He had seen Gwaine down drinks a lot quicker than that, but he didn’t dare try to copy. If he were to ever allow himself to get that drunk he was worried that he would make a mistake that none of his friends would forgive. Either that or he would do something humiliating that Merlin would never fail to bring up once or twice a week.

Another half-hour passed and Arthur let Gwaine change the subject to a few other matters, such as Samuel’s own friends back at home.

**They’re nice fellas. They sometimes try to teach me cool tricks but I can never get the hang of them. They’re pretty handy party tricks though.**

At the mention of tricks, Arthur sat up straight, wondering if it was what he thought it was.

 **Tricks?** He scribbled down.

It was now Samuel’s turn to shoot up and start sweating. He seemed to have realised his mistake, and that tricks was another word from the one thing that was outlawed in Camelot.

Magic.

Samuel was from another kingdom. That was how he had known about the griffin.

Arthur shot a triumphant glance at Gwaine, who only winked back. Gwaine had purposefully gotten the man talking about his friends back at home to see if he would let anything slip and it had worked. Once again, Arthur was reminded that Gwaine was a lot smarter than Arthur gave him credit for.

Meanwhile, Samuel had taken Arthur and Gwaine’s triumph to be a bad thing, and Arthur could see tears in his eyes as he hastily scribbled down his plea:

**Alright, it’s true! I was born and live in a kingdom that welcomes magic and I’m aware that I’m not allowed in Camelot, but I haven’t used magic once while here, I swear! I was only supposed to be here for a day to pick up some supplies, I didn’t mean any harm. I just got caught up in this curse and now I’m suffering just like all of you! Please, don’t kill me.**

Arthur sighed as he read the message, but he already knew his answer. Of course he wasn’t going to kill this man. His father, now that would have been an entirely different story, but as far as Arthur could see, the man hadn’t committed any crimes. He hadn’t shown a drop of evil to either Gwaine or Arthur in the two hours that they’d been talking to each other. If anything bad happened in this area that reeked of magic, then he’d know who to turn to, but for now, the man hadn’t done anything wrong, and this was what Arthur explained to him when he passed his note over. When Samuel looked up, tears were spilling from his eyes, only now they were tears of joy.

**Thank you! Thank you!**

Not quite sure how to deal with a grateful sorcerer, Arthur just settled on an awkward smile and rose from his seat, gesturing to the bartender that they’d like to pay of the rest of the tab. It was getting quite late in the day now, and a steady stream of people were already flooding in. They paid the bartender and, with one last tearful, drunken goodbye from Samuel, Arthur and Gwaine left the tavern and hurried over to where the knights were waiting for them.

Whilst they were walking over, Arthur pondered the latest information in his head. Their suspicions about the labyrinth had been correct, and it did house monsters. That meant that it was guarding something, and Arthur was willing to bet that it was the source of the curse. Go in the labyrinth, defeat the monsters, find the source of the curse and destroy it. Sounded easy enough on paper.

But who were the six creatures of the shadows? Why did they attack Merlin? Give him that dream? Why did they need to kill people? And why did they need a labyrinth to protect their curse? Why not protect it themselves? With every answer that he got, Arthur got more questions as well. Releasing a sigh of frustration that no one could hear, Arthur frowned as he realised that this twisted adventure was far from over.


	13. Until you break until you yield

Darkness had settled quite some time ago now, so it came to no surprise when the Arthur and the knights rode up to the lower market and found it to be deserted. All the wares had been packed up in record time, all the stores had been hastily shut and people had clumsily rushed into their houses and shut the doors. Arthur frowned at the sights in confusion. The citizens of Camelot couldn’t have known about the creatures attacking the outer villages, there would have been a panic if they had. So then why was everyone afraid? Arthur cast forlorn glance at an abandoned, rotten apple that had now attracted a fair amount of flies. If being unable to hear had caused this mess, then how would the people react if they truly knew what was going on? While Arthur didn’t like the thought of keeping his people in the dark, it was also a good thing. While fear brought people together during the day, it drove them apart during the night.

Arthur kept this in mind and he rode forward, constantly looking back to check if his knights were still with him, every time getting an assuring smile from at least one of them. Arthur replied to their smiles with a nod and looked back. Looking straight ahead into the darkness like this, being unable to hear anything, made him think that he was alone. Arthur tried banishing the thought out of his head by arguing that the knights were his friends, and would never ditch him with no good reason. Still, Arthur could feel the doubts and fears simmering in the darkest pits of his stomach, adamant enough that he still kept looking back every so often, despite Arthur telling himself constantly how ridiculous he was being.

The horses made slow progress, since they were travelling through darkness. The moon hadn’t been out for quite some time now, so the horses were taking their steps carefully, Arthur straining his eyes into the darkness to try and guide them as best he could. Occasionally, they would bump into a torch, but they were few and far between. Not for the first time, Arthur cursed under his breath, something that would have fallen on deaf ears anyway. They shouldn’t have spent so long trying to learn as much as they could about the traveller. Now, with darkness settling over Camelot quicker than he thought, Arthur had nothing but his own mistakes to curse as he guided his knights back home.

Fortunately, since between them Arthur and the knights knew Camelot by heart, it wasn’t long until they saw the path to the stables, the Camelot castle looming over to great them. Sharing triumphant looks with each other, the knights followed Arthur into the courtyard, all of them looking forward to a bed and some rest. 

There was just one more thing they needed to do first.

Once Arthur and the knights had leapt off their horses and given them to the stable boys, they made their way to the Physician’s chambers and bundled in with bated breath, their heads filled with thoughts on what they might see.

Their doubts were cast aside when they saw Merlin propped up in one of the beds designated to a patient. There, Gaius was fussing over him. Merlin was rolling his eyes, as if Gaius had said something funny, when he finally spotted Arthur and the knights hovering near the door. When his eyes met Arthur’s, he greeted them with a small smile.

“ _Gaius!_ ” Merlin warned as Arthur and the knights marched up to them.

Despite Merlin’s voice sounding like a faint echo in Gaius’s head, he still got the message and turned around to greet Arthur, who was looking at Gaius with wide eyes, eager for an explanation.

Gaius tried his best to hold in a sigh and instead pointed at the table, an invitation for Arthur and the knights to sit down while he finished attending to Merlin. Arthur looked confused at the order, but it wasn’t long before Gwaine was dragging him towards the table, with Arthur looking at Merlin the entire time.

Merlin smiled at the evident worry and gave Arthur a small thumbs-up. Arthur got the message and returned his gaze to his knights, who seemed to be equally relieved at the fact that Merlin was going to be okay.

Gaius, who had been replacing soiled bandages with new ones, finished his task and Merlin, who seemed to be understanding everything that Gaius wanted off him, settled down into the bed and got himself comfortable. Satisfied, Gaius made his way over to the knights, grabbed a piece of parchment and started writing his report. Arthur watched the pen dancing across the page as to form Gaius’ eligible scrawl as he waited for Gaius to finish it. 

**Merlin’s going to be fine, Sire. With the size of the wound and how deep it is, I’d say that he was stabbed with a scalpel, and most likely by those creatures you keep telling me about. Most likely, Merlin saw one of them in the village you came across, and, being the stubborn idiot that he is, went to investigate on his own without thinking to tell you and Gwaine. The creature then probably lured him into a trap and they gained on him in numbers. Either way, the wound wasn’t meant to be fatal, so it won’t be. Given a few days, Merlin should be fine.**

Arthur read the passage several times over before letting the knights pour over it. This confirmed that there were definitely other creatures other than the one he encountered in the village, and that they had most likely been distracting him while they had been attacking Merlin.

Arthur bit his lip as he thought back to the night that he had spent talking to shadows, Why had he allowed himself to be manipulated like that when he had known that his friend was in danger? Arthur put his head in his hands, unable to come up with an answer that made him happy. Merlin, who had cheered him up and supported him so often in the past, was now confined to his bed because of a stab wound that could have easily been avoided if Arthur had just been paying attention.

A faint tap on the shoulder caused him to look up. When he did, he saw the beaming face of Gwaine giving him an impish smile. On his right, Lancelot placed a hand on his shoulder, and Arthur gave a mute grunt of surprise when Elyan punched him in the arm. Arthur sighed, unable to hold back the smile that was slowly creeping over his face. He nodded, trying to convey the fact that he was feeling better now, and it was true. Despite the curse, despite everything that was going wrong, Arthur knew that they still had a chance of winning, because not one of them had given up yet.

Then, with Arthur genuinely feeling better about himself, he started grabbing some parchment and recounting the day’s events. In his notes, he included the an avid description of the body that had been found, the fact that they had buried it, the status of the village that had declared that they didn’t want help from the king and the traveller and the tales that he had to tell, making sure that he didn’t miss out of the fact that the traveller had magic.

Arthur watched in anticipation as Gaius read over the words again and again. The knights were sharing anxious looks with each other, wondering if Gaius’ eagle eyes had spotted something in the details that they hadn’t. As Gaius read, Arthur wondered what thoughts would be going on in the physician’s head. Would he approve of Arthur’s decision to let the traveller go, even though he knew he had magic? Or would he think that the sorcerer suddenly appearing in Camelot had something to do with the curse. Arthur went over the theory in his head, but it made no sense. If Samuel really was a sorcerer powerful enough to curse Camelot, then why would he take up the guise of a weary traveller? Why wouldn’t he take the opportunity to shove his plans of revenge onto Arthur like other sorcerers did. The theory didn’t make any sense. Whoever was behind it, it certainly wasn’t a human, sorcerer or otherwise.

Arthur finally came to when he realised that Gaius had lowered the parchments and was now mulling over the words in his head. He watched as Gaius rubbed his temples, grabbed another blank piece of parchment and started writing his reply:

**With the wounds described on the body, I wouldn’t be surprised if the creatures also used a scalpel to kill Olivia as well. With the fact that most of the wounds were in the neck, I think the most likely theory is that the creatures were trying to scrape something out, though I can’t be sure. As for the decision to leave the traveller be, I commend you for it, Sire. While yes, he does have magic, the fact that he hasn’t used it to harm anyone is commendable. The sooner we lift this curse, the sooner he’ll be out of our hair.**

Arthur bit his lip as he read the passage, memories of the wounds and the corpse of the person that he couldn’t save flashing in his mind. Could those wounds really have been caused by such a tiny weapon? Arthur thought back to the scars, and how it had taken multiple strikes to slash open her throat. Also, if the creatures were magic, couldn’t they have just killed her with a spell? The fact that they killed her with a weapon meant that they were definitely after whatever they had wanted to carve out. Arthur frowned at the new information, both disgusted and intrigued. While the knights updated themselves by reading Gaius’ new passage, Arthur grabbed yet another piece of parchment and wrote down a question:

**What could they have wanted to carve out?**

Gaius read the question, his features immediately darkening. The grim expression on Gaius’ face sent Arthur’s heart hurtling into his stomach. Whatever that look meant, it couldn’t have been good. Arthur and the knights exchanged worried glances as Gaius rose from his chair and went to fetch a book about human anatomy from his shelf. After he had fetched the book, he crossed the room once more and set down the book onto the table once he had found a certain page. 

**Vocal muscles**

**A series of muscles that can be found in the neck are believed to control the voice, and are the reason for sore throats and the cause for pain whenever one is to shout or scream. While little is known about these set of muscles, it’s believed that while other muscles control the arms and the legs, these muscles are the ones to control the volume and tone of voice, and is what allows a person to speak. Should these muscles be damaged in anyway, then it would cause people to lose their voice and therefore their inability to speak.**

Arthur read the passage in the book, wondering why it wasn’t longer. Gaius, seeming to anticipate the question, looked almost sheepish as he handed Arthur his answer:

**Unfortunately, Sire, not much is known about vocal chords since we have no sure fire way to study them. The author of this book, Gaston the Ghastly, tried dissecting many human bodies to try and understand how the muscles worked, but with no one alive to speak, he couldn’t see the muscles in action. All that we have to defend this information is the movement that the neck makes when a person speaks.**

For the first time in his life, Arthur was wishing that they had more information on human anatomy. But if vocal chords really were what helped people speak, then why would the creatures be after them? No one had been able to speak since the curse, and if the creatures had been behind that as well… were vocal chords what they had been after all this time? Arthur rubbed his temples as he mulled the new information over, not entirely sure what to make of it. Frustrated, Arthur snatched a piece of parchment and began to write. Meanwhile, Gaius showed the passage to Merlin, who was now reading it over with a slight frown on his face. When Arthur had finished a few moments later, he read over his work and, satisfied, handed it over to Gaius.

**So if the creatures are the ones behind this curse, and if vocal chords are the thing that they’re after, then they must have stolen everyone’s hearing so that they could steal the vocal chords without anyone being able to hear the victims screaming, is that correct?**

Gaius’s features once again turned grim as he nodded, confirming Arthur’s suspicions. Gaius passed Arthur’s findings over to the rest of the knights, who quickly read the piece of parchment and mulled over the information themselves. Finally, after Elyan had done with it, he scowled as he crossed the room and gave the information to Merlin, who read over the answer just as hungrily as the others had done.

Merlin pursed his lips as his eyes scanned over the parchment. When he had finished, he leaned back, his eyes staring up at the ceiling, focused on unmoving. After a few minutes of staring into space, Merlin finally remembered something that made him shoot straight up in bed, only to regret it seconds later.

“ _Gaius!_ ” Merlin spoke in his mind as he clutched onto his flaring wound and collapsed back into the pillows again.

“ _Merlin!_ ” Gaius scolded as he made his way across the room to his ward, “ _Idiot boy! You should know by now when to take it easy!_ ”

Merlin rolled his eyes at Gaius’ scolding and, as usual, paid little attention to it, “ _That doesn’t matter right now! There was something off about one of the creatures the night I was attacked, I just remembered!_ ”

“ _And what’s that?_ ” Gaius asked, checking over his shoulder to make sure that the knights hadn’t noticed Merlin’s sudden revelation. Fortunately, they hadn’t caught wind of Merlin and Gaius’ secret conversation, and were to busy pouring over Gaius’ human anatomy book, trying to find more about vocal chords.

“ _When I ran into them, there were five of them wearing white dresses, but there was one of them whose dress was covered in blood._ ” Merlin explained, wincing slightly at the memory, “ _She must have been the one to kill Olivia with the scalpel. And if that was the case, then she must have been the one to carve out Olivia’s vocal muscles._ ”

“ _What about it, Merlin?_ ” Gaius asked.

“ _Her appearance was starting to change, All the rest looked like the drawing that I showed you, but she looked different. Her neck didn’t look as shrivelled and empty as the others, and her hair and face were changing as well!_ ”

Gaius frowned, pondering the information, “ _Her neck was restored? You mean the creatures didn’t have voices?_ ”

“ _They didn’t talk to me, no. They communicated using telepathy, like we are._ ”

“ _They’re killing for voices?_ ” Gaius wondered.

Merlin shrugged, “ _I’m not sure. I don’t know what they could want with them, but there’s five more who still have shrivelled necks, and the prophecy that I dreamed about mentioned five more people. They’re going to kill again five more times, Gaius, and we need to be there to stop them._ ”

Gaius sighed, going over what Merlin had told him in his head. Like usual with magic, nothing was as it seemed. The curse wasn’t only there just to strike fear into the heart of Camelot, but was instead a ploy for creatures of magic to take what didn’t belong to them by killing people who couldn’t scream.

Gaius looked over at Arthur and scowled, plagued by a decision. Arthur deserved to know about this. That five more people were going to die. But how to get the information across without him becoming suspicious of Merlin and Gaius’ ways of communicating. Gaius sighed before turning back to Merlin.

“ _We can’t tell Arthur this just yet, he’s going to get suspicious. You’re going to have to tell him yourself, and you’re in no condition to write the information down now. We’ll tell Arthur later._ ”

Merlin’s eyes narrowed in protest, “ _But he deserves to know!_ ”

“ _And he will._ ” Gaius countered, “ _You can tell him yourself. But right now, it’s getting late, and you’re not the only one who needs some rest._ ”

With that, Gaius cut off his link with Merlin and turned away, their conversation over. When Arthur and the knights saw the physician approaching, they looked up from the human anatomy book expectantly as Gaius grabbed a blank piece of parchment and started writing.

**I think that’s enough for one day, Sire. Merlin needs some rest, and he’s not going to be able to get it with you lot cluttering the place. Not to mention that you all need some rest as well, Sire. With these creatures on the loose, you’re going to need all the rest you can.**

Arthur read the message and nodded, understanding what Gaius meant. With a jerk of his head, Arthur left the room, the knights following his lead and trailing out of the room after him. Gaius followed them out, watching as the knights made their way to the barracks and Arthur made his way to his chambers. When would be the right time to tell Arthur about the information that Merlin had? Chances are that there was going to be another murder tonight, and none of them had any idea where they were going to strike. 

The patrols had been put on alert and security had been doubled near the outer lying villages, but that was all Arthur could do without getting involved himself, and he was in no fit condition to be doing that right now, not without some rest.

Worry settled in Gaius’ stomach as he watched Arthur disappear around the corner, a dark voice in the shadows of his mind telling him that their precautions weren’t going to be enough.


	14. Armed with your shield and with your sword

The village on the outskirts of Camelot was a bit on the small side, and so didn’t really show up on any maps of the kingdom. It only had a few people, a few animals and a few houses, but it was enough. Just because It wasn’t enough for any map didn’t mean it wasn’t home. The people there were just as friendly as the people in the castle of Camelot, and just as welcoming to travellers as they were to outsiders. However, just like everyone else, it also meant that they were terrified of magic.

As soon as the curse had hit their village, panic spread like a second plague. Melo, the elder of the village, realised what was happening and was quick to blame it on magic: the source of all the evil in the land. Once he and his daughter Melva had managed to bring peace to the village, the two combined their efforts and what little they had of an education into trying to explain to the others what had been going on, since the guard patrol of that lazy king up in the castle were quite obviously uninterested in explaining what was going on to the outer villages.

When the people who could read understood what was going on and had calmed down, those who could write gathered together to discuss what they could do, the threat of magic constantly hovering in the air in the form of a deadly silence. As untidy scrawls were sent back and forth, it wasn’t long until the leaders of the village settled on the idea of regrouping in the church. If there was a curse on the land of Camelot, then that meant that some blight of a creature was causing it, and that Camelot was in danger. While Melo couldn’t care less about what happened to the rest of Camelot, he refused to sit back as a threat settled over his village. With their actions agreed upon, Melo and his grown daughter Melva helped the leaders try and explain everything that was going on to those that couldn’t read or write.

Eventually, after a few more hours of panicked confusion and upset crying, the ones with a lack of education got the gist of it and joined the rest of the village in setting up a shelter in the church. Now that they fully understood what was going on, they started to work with efficiency. The farmers started leading their harvests in by the basket, their wives leading in pigs and cows by the lead. Those who could be trusted with sharp weapons started sharpening them, readying them for a threat they didn’t know the name off. But they didn’t care. In their eyes, the only threat that mattered was magic.

This was how the afternoon found that tiny little village. Shut off from the rest of the world and ignored by the bigger villages, it wasn’t long before they had found their own feet in their church-recently-turned-shelter. With the sun high in the sky, it peered down at the small village to see Melva on lookout duty, a frown on her face as she looked at the rumbling path.

With the suspicion that something was approaching, Melva cast one more look around her to make sure no one was watching before she looked into the sun. If anyone had seen her eyes glow golden in that moment, they wouldn’t have been able to tell. Sure enough, when she looked further down the path using magic, she could see that a group of Camelot guards were riding towards their village, pieces of parchment in hand. Melva shook the gold away from her green eyes and ran back into the church to warn her father.  
Moments later, father and daughter rushed out of the church just in time to meet the group of soldiers that were riding up to meet them. 

Melo looked unimpressed as the guard hopped down from the horse and then waved the parchment away when the guard offered it to him. They had already figured out what was going on and didn’t need some brain-dead soldier spelling it out for them. They were perfectly fine on their own.

With a bewildered expression on the soldier’s face, he gave a slight nod, mounted his horse and rode away with the others, leaving only that outpost and it’s troupe of guards as the only remaining eyesore. Melo sighed, but he supposed he couldn’t have everything. Waving towards his daughter, he went back inside, not bothering to check if his daughter had followed him inside or not.

Whatever was happening, the village was sure that they could handle it. The king hadn’t been there during all those rough winters, and he certainly hadn’t been there whenever there had been a sickly plague. Just as usual, the small village was alone, and that was just how they wanted it. With a stubborn, magic-hating elderly leader to guide them, the spirit of his kind wife watching over them, and their daughter, who, if you looked close enough, had a glint of golden mischief in her eye.

O=II==========>

It had been two days know, and the visits of those two knights and of the king himself the following day did nothing to calm the village’s nerves. If anything, the king, in all his stately fashion, seemed to have made everything worse. With rations getting low and the stink of the animals getting worse, people were getting more and more scared by the minute. The children were the first to complain, screaming and crying, even their instincts sharp enough to know that something was wrong, something that not even their parents could protect them from. Still, the parents tried their best to settle them down, and, for the first time since he woke up that fateful morning, Melo was glad that he couldn’t hear the children complaining.

The leader of the village that they often traded with had ridden over to greet them earlier that morning, parchment delivering bad news flapping wildly in the wind. Apparently one of their own, a woman called Olivia, had been brutally murdered, and that no one had seen or heard anything because everyone else was asleep. Melo wasn’t as surprised as he thought he would be at the news, but he supposed he knew it was coming: everything went wrong where magic was involved. Either way, with one already dead, it would do nothing to stop the creatures’ thirst for blood. With the information that the creatures only came out at night, Melo sent the village leader of to grieve and turned back towards his own village.

He had some work to do.

He ordered the people that were the most skilled with weapons to be asleep during the day and awake during the night, where they were most liable to attack. The women were tasked with sharpening the weapons, making anything from a dented pitchfork to a blunt stake of wood sharp and in shape again. The children were tasked with doing the jobs that the adults would usually do, such as milking the cows and collecting from the chickens. If it were any other time, the children would have proved to be a handful, but with all the weapons out and the grim faces on the adults, it didn’t take a detective to know that things were getting serious. Immediately, the children buckled down and got to work as hard as they could.

It took a while to get orders through to everyone with nothing but parchment, but eventually everyone was doing their own job, wether it be sleeping in preparation for attack, on lookout in case of an attack during the day, or just their usual jobs. Melo looked at his village, more proud of his family then ever. Melva joined him and gave a small smile, her eyes shadowed by the secret she had been condemned to hide her entire life. Her mother had taken her magic to the grave with her. Now Melva was doomed to do the same.  
With nothing else apart from the king’s visit to report, the day went by slowly, every second drenched in a thick blanket of silence.

Melo, who had assigned himself the first watch of the night, pursed his lip as he watched the sun set over the horizon.

It was time.

His lips set in a firm line of determination, he nodded to the young man nearest man. The farmer returned the nod and rushed inside to start waking everybody up. Melo watched him disappear into the church and then returned his gaze to the setting sun, his old, wispy hair floating about in the breeze behind him. 

It wasn’t long before the strongest men in the village came out bearing all sorts of pitchforks and kitchen knives. All off these men were in their prime. While they may not have been the best fighters, their arms and legs were still framed with muscles. If they weren’t able to outwit the creatures though strategy alone, hopefully enough punches to the face would be enough to stop them.

After roughly an hour of walking through a village that Melo knew better then he knew the aged wrinkles on the back of his hand, he confirmed that everyone was in their place and ready to begin their watch. Some of the women had volunteered to fight for their village as well, as were now practising their swings nervously. Apart from the elderly women and the children that had been forced to stay inside the church, everyone was in their position, weapon in hand, determined to protect their own home. After mentally checking everything off his list, Melo nodded, satisfied with himself, before making his way back to his own position: outside the double doors of the church. 

With darkness encasing them like a coffin lid, the only sources of light left were the torches that were strewn around the village in no particular order. It was in these torches that Melo could see villagers of different shapes, sizes and genders standing just as anxiously as he was, their weapon shaking slightly in their hands. They were all scared, but that was okay. He was too.

Melva had been assigned the front gate of the village, and she knew that her father had cheated in order to get her this position. He knew that if the creatures were to attack, they would use the forest behind the village because of the shelter that it granted. However, during the meeting they had had that morning, Melo had argued that his daughter should defend the front of the village because that’s where most of the danger was, despite him knowing it would be on the other side of the village. Melva clutched her kitchen knife and sighed, the only evidence of it being a long wisp of white air floating towards the clouds. Why did she have to be the in the safest position the village provided when the rest of the village was in danger? Shouldn’t she get a chance to protect her village to? Melva thought back to her time as a child, where, as soon as she knew she was alone, she would practice amazing things the minute she learnt she could move stuff with her mind. If only she could do that now.

Her thoughts froze in their tracks when she thought she saw a shadow flicker next to her. A silent gasp of ice cold air rushed into her lungs as she took a step back, her knife ready in her hand.

“ _Just the torch_ ” She thought to herself in a huff of laughter as she watched the flickering of flames next to her. Had anyone seen that? She hoped not.

When she turned around to check no one was laughing at her, no one heard her shout of surprise as she only just missed the swing of a scalpel being aimed at her neck.

She took a few steps back in surprise, not yet entirely aware of what was happening. She regained her balance just enough to sidestep another attack before she was running, trying desperately to piece her thoughts together.

They were attacking. But if they were behind her, then that meant that they had come from the forest. Why hadn’t anyone said anything?

Acting on adrenaline alone, Melva was just briefly aware of the figure next to her before to dove avoid another attack. After years of practising in the woods as a child, she quickly rolled to her feet and carried on, scrapes and bruises be damned.

With the people so strategically placed around the village, it wasn’t long before her running figure had attracted the attention of others. People who had seen the figures in the shadows were snatching torches and lighting a big stack of hay so everyone could see. In all the panic, Melva allowed herself a small smile. With the hay alight, it wouldn’t be long   
before people were migrating towards her and the others. Until then…

Melva backed herself into the wall of a house as she tried to get her bearings. The two figures that had attacked her while she was running seemed to have lost interest in her now, and were now probably going after other figures in the village. Melva panted, desperately trying to get her breathing under control, her head turning left and right as she tried to figure out where she was.

There – the church was in the distance.

With the vast quantities of smoke in the sky, it would probably be safe to say that most of the village knew about the attack by now.

But who were they? How did they sneak past everyone? What did they want? All the questions floated around Melva’s mind, but she quickly swept them away. She couldn’t worry about that right now. All that mattered was protecting her village.

Without giving herself enough time to be scared, Melva leapt out of her hiding place and took off at a run, the church a looming shadow in the distance.

With one last turn to go before she was home free, Melva gave a gasp of surprise as her foot stumbled and the ground rushed up to meet her. As soon as she realised she had fallen, Melva quickly got back up to her feet and, in a blind moment of curiosity, turned to inspect the thing she had tripped over.

Except there was nothing there.

What? That couldn’t be right. Nothing there? But it was true. All that was there was her shadow.

Unable to explain it and the adrenaline settling back in again, Melva took another step towards the church when she took another gasp of pain.

Immediately, her ankle groaned under the weight and she was sent tumbling to the ground, pain searing up her left leg.

Melva silently grunted through her teeth, sitting up and hugging her knee to her chest as she did so. How had she sprained her ankle? She didn’t even trip over anything! Dammit, it was no use to wonder that now. She’d just have to improvise.

Clutching her knife closely to her chest, Melva used the wall of a nearby those to haul herself back up. In the many twisting alleyways that the village had to offer in between its clumsily built houses, Melva could see people running past with weapons, waving and pointing at anyone who could see them. Occasionally, Melva could see what they were running from: a flash of white, a hint of shadow and sometimes, just sometimes, the ominous glint of a scalpel.

After about 2 minutes of a dull, throbbing pain, Melva turned around in surprise when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder gently.

One of the young guards from the outpost, the group of Camelot guards that had refused to go away, was now looking at her in worry, pointing to her ankle with a look of concern on his face. Melva’s shoulders sunk as she sighed and deadpanned at the young soldier. The guards had arrived the morning that the village discovered they couldn’t hear anything, and hadn’t done a single thing since. Her father had called them a waste of space in his writing, and Melva had to agree with him. It was the first time they had seen a Camelot guard in a long time, and no one in the village had been that impressed by the way they seemed to squat in the outpost not doing anything.

Melva watched as the soldier held out his hand to her, quickly pointing to the church as an offer to take her there. Melva rolled her eyes and allowed him to support her, hopping the short distance to the church with the soldier there as the support, his sword out and pointed towards the shadows.

When Melva had finally made it towards the church, she was met with Melo, who’s lines of age were creased with worry. When he saw the limping form of Melva, he ran up to her and, pushing the young soldier of her, took his daughter and quickly guided her inside the church.

It was chaos. Men and women were fighting over weapons and arguing about who should protect the children. Some people were trying desperately to try and draw what they saw, but every drawing that Melva saw what either incomplete or a bunch of scribbles, which were probably the result of not being able to see enough to complete a drawing of them. With a spine-curdling chill, Melva realised that, despite being attacked by them twice, even she hadn’t gotten a good enough look at them to tell what they looked like. They must have been darting around the entire village, attacking and then slinking back into the shadows before anyone even knew what was happening.

Melva let herself be settled onto a lump of hay, nothing but her chilling thoughts to comfort her. While she was paralysed with thoughts and questions as to who the creatures could be, pandemonium rained around her, people panicking and rushing inside, their wide eyes unable to see anything but shadows again. 

Melva was snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed that her father had someone managed to get a hold of some bandages and was now trying his best to wrap up his daughter’s foot. Melva winced slightly, but knew that it was best not to show how much she was hurt. If she did, it would mean that her father would confine her to her bed all night, and that was the last thing Melva wanted. She couldn’t just watch this chaos unfold in front of her and not be able to do anything.

So, as her father bandaged up her ankle, Melva watched the shadows that were dancing on the walls. With the doors opening and closing frequently with people coming in and out, the wind was getting quite frantic, the shadows on the wall becoming more chaotic because of it.

A pat to her leg caused her to rip her attention away from the shadows and look down. Her father had done the best that he could with the short notice and time that he had, and Melva couldn’t be more proud of him. With a beaming smile, she sprung up to her feet again, only to collapse back down again with a wince in seconds.

Melva gritted her teeth in pain as her father scolded her with a slap on the knee. Ugh… the pain was worse than she thought. As much as she hated to admit it, she was going to have to stay here for a little bit while the pain died down. But, as soon as an hour or so had passed, she’d be out there again in no time.

Unsure of how to pass the time, Melva allowed her attention to be captured again by the dancing shadows on the walls.

That was weird. Were those shadows a little bigger?

Melva grunted with pain as white noise suddenly filled her head.

“ _And so, the second of six is in session!_ ”

Melva clutched her head and looked around for the source of the noise, but she couldn’t see anything. No one else had seemed to notice her predicament either, with Melo having left to settle an argument.

“ _Sisters! Take notes!_ ” In her panic, Melva was briefly aware of the shadows that were growing wider, slowly taking over the capacity of the church. There was such a mess inside of the church that no one seemed to have any idea what was happening.

“ _Look at them!_ ” The voice in Melva’s head echoed in glee, “ _Absolutely no idea what’s about to happen._ ”

What was that trick they were using? Something called telepathy, right? Melva vaguely recalled her mother telling her something about it, and it’s popularity with the druids. Only people with magic could do it though, couldn’t they? She could try…

“ _So ignorant and yet plagued with fears._ ” The voice sounded almost wistful.

But who to contact? Her mother mentioned a name once. Someone who she could always depend upon. Damn it, what was his name? Emerick? Emerin? No, no…

“ _And so, with the moon as our witness, let us hear our second scream!_ ”

The shadows, they had something to do shadows, there were shadows all around them, how-

Melva’s eyes widened in surprise as a blinding light flashed behind her eyes and she vomited blood. Her stomach churned in disgust when she saw that the blood that she had coughed up was now dripping onto the silver blade that was protruding from her throat.

Behind her. She had forgotten to check the shadows behind her.

The last thing she saw were the horrified expressions of her village. Of her father. Who would have seen her killed if any of them had ever found out her secret.

With her dying breath, Melva shouted the one thing that only one person could hear.

O=II==========>

“ _Emrys!_ ”

Merlin shot up in bed, sweating and panting, the image of the second corpse flashing vividly in his mind.


	15. They won't do much against the horde

Merlin gasped, panting and shaking as he shot straight up in bed, his blanket pooling around his waist. Unable to see anything but the corpse of the second victim, Merlin did nothing but stare at the wall for a few minutes, not noticing the new spring of pain that was now spreading through his body because of his sudden movement.

Merlin tried clenching his fists around the blanket in order to get his bearings, but it was no use. Slowly, he felt one of his hands wrap around his neck. How had it felt? Getting a scalpel to the neck? Was it similar to getting one in the stomach? Or was it easier to feel the chill of the cold metal slipping into skin, the last squeak for break being nothing but hard steel? Feeling himself sinking into another sweat, Merlin tried shouting for Gaius, only for no sound to come out.

Blinking back tears caused by both pain and grief, Merlin clumsily peeled back the covers of his bed and slowly stood up, unable to gain his bearings in a room that bore no sunlight. With one of his hands clutching the clump of bandages at his side, Merlin started making his way over to Gaius’ bed when a spell came to mind that could help banish the darkness.

Picturing all off the candles in Gaius’ chambers, Merlin closed his eyes and waved his free hand.

“ **Forbearnan** ”

When Merlin opened his eyes, however, his stomach dropped slightly when he found that the room was still plunged in darkness. Did vocal spells not work anymore? Trying not to panic, Merlin closed his eyes again and rummaged for a non-vocal spell. Forcing images of corpses and blood from his mind, Merlin pictured the candles in Gaius’ chambers flickering to life with a golden glow that matched the one in his eyes.

Sure enough, a soft light made it’s way under Merlin’s eyelids, telling him of his success before he had even opened his eyes.

Merlin opened his eyes to the familiar sight of his home, the sight so calming that it even made him smile a bit. However, the nightmares of the evening quickly came back to him, and he quickly set about locating Gaius.

The urgency died down a little when Merlin saw that Gaius was not in his bed, but instead was slumped on the desk that was faced opposite where Merlin’s patient bed had been. Merlin’s smile grew slightly wider before it fell altogether when he remembered what had happened.

With a gentle shake of the older man’s shoulder, Merlin bounced on the balls of his heels as he impatiently waited for the physician to wake. As Gaius got his bearings, Merlin grabbed a piece of parchment and started writing, not caring a bit for the searing burn that was making itself known in Merlin’s stomach.

Gaius straightened as soon as his head had cleared of sleep, and he was on Merlin in seconds, the scolding frown that Merlin knew all too well on Gaius’ face. When he saw that Merlin had tears in his eyes, however, the frown fell into an expression of concern as he lowered himself back down into his seat while Merlin scribbled down what had happened.

**There’s been a second murder**

The concern that shone in Gaius’ eyes quickly became grief as he read Merlin’s scribble, barely eligible as it was. Pushing the piece of parchment back to his ward, Gaius encouraged Merlin to continue. Merlin, his hand still shaking, did his best to comply.

**A young woman. Had magic, and was stabbed in the neck by a scalpel. She managed to scream my name before she died. She sounded so scared.**

Merlin gave the note back to him and watched anxiously as Gaius read the passage, sympathy clear on his face. Absentmindedly, Merlin massaged his side, barely acknowledging the pain that was simmering in his stomach.  
L  
eft alone with his thoughts while Gaius mulled his writing over, Merlin remembered what had happened when he had woken up. Waving his hand to let Gaius know he wanted the parchment, he found a blank space and wrote down even more bad news:

**I can’t use vocal spells. When I tried to light all the candles up in your room, I couldn’t do it because I can’t speak. I had to use a non-verbal spell to do it.**

Merlin watched as Gaius went from crestfallen to distraught with worry. A small section of Merlin briefly wondered if he should have woken Gaius up with two bouts of bad news, but he quickly waved the thoughts away. Gaius would have thought it much more important to deal with the problems at hand then to wait for them to go away.

A few more seconds dragged past before Gaius finally confirmed his thoughts on paper:

**We have to tell Arthur about the murder now. As alarming as this news about your magic is, it’ll have to wait. You’re not leaving that bed anytime soon, so we have plenty of time to think about how to work around that problem.**

Merlin tried not to roll his eyes at that last part. In all the excitement, he had briefly forgotten that he was supposed to be in bed. How was he going to help with Gaius shooing him back to bed with every attempt to get out? As usual though, Gaius made a point, and Merlin made his way back to bed while Gaius went outside and caught the attention of a guard, one of which were now appointed to every room of the castle during the deep hours of the night.

Once Gaius had slipped the guard a piece of paper with the order of fetching King Arthur, he ambled back into his room and, without wasting a second, wrote down everything that he knew about the casualty on a separate piece of parchment, making sure to tuck the parchment that held Merlin’s concerns about his magic under his mattress.

It wasn’t very long after Gaius had finished jotting down all that he knew about the second murder, with some inputs from Merlin, that Arthur burst into the room. Seeing that he was shirtless, Merlin quickly averted his eyes, thanking both the new and old religions for the candles that were hiding the red tinge that had suddenly been added to his cheeks.

When Gaius pushed the parchment towards the other end of the table, Arthur snatched it up and drank in every word, his hand creasing the parchment as he read. They should have seen it coming. They should have known what was going to happen. His face set in a stone frown of determination, Arthur wrote down his own words at the end of Gaius’ information:

**How do you know this?**

How was it that his physician was more aware of events in Camelot than the King, who had spent hours pacing his chambers not able to sleep a wink? How was Gaius knowledgeable of a murder that had happened only hours beforehand?

Arthur watched as Gaius pursed his lips and then wrote his explanation below Arthur’s question.

**Merlin. He dreamt about the creatures a few nights ago, and now seems to be able to dream about their victims.**

Arthur scowled at the explanation, only becoming more and more confused. Merlin? What the hell did Merlin have to do with any of this? Why was he involved? Why had he been attacked.

Images of Merlin with a scalpel in his chest flashed through his mind once more, which only made Arthur even more cross. Why hadn’t Merlin been killed? Wouldn’t that have been warning enough? Why had Merlin dreamt about this victim but not the first? Why was Merlin dreaming in the first place? Why was he so confused?

Arthur placed his head in his hands, shaking his hands slightly. He was at a complete loss for what was going on, and he hated it. A King should always know what was going on in his kingdom, in all places and at all times. That’s what his father had drilled into his brain. If a King were to ever be confused…

Arthur tried to chase the thoughts from his head, taking deep breaths to calm himself. There were bigger problems at hand then his own insecurities. With one last sigh, he wrote another question and handed it to Gaius.

**Do you know where this girl was murdered?**

Gaius gave Arthur a grim expression and shook his head, quickly scribbling down an explanation.

**Merlin only saw the girl get murdered. He didn’t see why or by who.**

Arthur considered the new information and turned to face his manservant, who was watching over by the bed with anxious eyes. Arthur sighed, unsure of what to do and his feet screaming at him to move. But to where? Arthur knew he had to do something, but what? They didn’t know where the victim was or who she was, all he knew was that she was   
murdered the exact same way as the first victim Olivia.

Arthur sat down on the edge of Merlin’s bed with a sigh, offering Merlin a small smile of thank you when Merlin placed a hand on his shoulder. With every assurance that he thought about, a thousand new doubts came into his brain. What if the creatures decided to kill two people tonight? What if they were attacked and killed in retaliation?

Seeing that Arthur was worrying, Merlin looked at Gaius and waved at him, signalling for him to come over. Understanding what he meant, Gaius grabbed a piece of parchment and quill from the desk and brought it over. Merlin took it with a grateful smile and started writing. It was clumsy work since Merlin had barely any ink and not that much space to lean on, but Arthur could just about read the letters that were scrawled onto the page:

**There’s no need to worry, Arthur. If there was any sign of attack then the ones who would have seen it would have told the outpost in the village. There’ll be someone on the way to report the attack, I’m sure of it.**

Arthur read the words with a small smile, wishing not for the first time that he could hear Merlin’s voice uttering them instead. By some miracle, his bumbling servant was right. If anyone had gotten even the slightest hint of an attack on a village, someone from the outpost would have been riding towards Camelot by now.

Once again, however, the minute Arthur tried to reassure himself, even more doubts crawled into the back of his mind like shadows. There was no one to report the first murder, because no one had been able to hear her scream. What if it was the same for this murder? What if everyone in the village were still asleep in their beds, not aware that a close friend of theirs had been murdered? Merlin, who had seen the smile slowly fall from Arthur’s face, sighed. Arthur was doubting himself again. Prat.

With a punch to the arm, Arthur was snapped out of his thoughts less by pain and more by surprise. When he turned around to face Merlin, he saw an impish grin on his servant, with his hand still balled up into a fist. Confused, Arthur shook his head, rubbing his arm in bewilderment. Seeing his expression, Merlin became just as confused, grabbing the parchment that had lain dormant in Arthur’s lap and scribbled another sentence:

**So it’s alright when you hit me to cheer me up, but when I hit you, you just become more of a prat?**

Arthur frowned at the sentence and shot an unimpressed look at Merlin, who replied with a playful shrug, no regret of his actions evident. With Gaius cleaning up his desk, a cold smirk spread across Arthur’s face as an idea popped into his head. Merlin, who spotted the smirk, leaned away the minute Arthur edged up to him. Arthur was just about to go through with his idea when he saw the door burst open in his peripherals.

He turned his head to see a guard in tattered uniform panting in the doorway, the door still swinging slightly from the sheer amount of strength used to open it. In any normal circumstance, Arthur would have scolded the boy for his enthusiasm, but the tattered uniform, scratches and wounds all meant one thing.

The young soldier had seen battle only recently.

Knowing what this meant, Arthur quickly crossed the room, grabbed some parchment and thrust it into the soldiers chest, thoughts of tormenting Merlin currently forgotten. Waving away the soldier’s hasty attempt at a bow, Arthur led the exhausted soldier over to the table and practically shoved him on the bench, joining him on the opposite end of the table.

Immediately, the soldier started scribbling down what he had seen and what he had fought in the battle, sweat making his handwriting slippy and shaky. Arthur had noticed that the nervous young lad was even taking time to try and make his handwriting neater for his king, but interrupting him solely for that reason would be nothing more than a waste of time, and so Arthur let it slide. 

Gaius joined Arthur’s side in watching the boy write shortly after he had finished the tasks that he had meant to take care of in the morning, all thoughts of sleep forgotten. Merlin, banished to his bed, watched from afar, hating the fact that he would have to wait even longer than the others before getting some information.

Finally, the soldier dropped his pen and Arthur snatched the parchment up, only just able to remind himself to share the parchment with Gaius. Together, they read the soldier’s report.

**Your Majesty,**

**I come from the village that you visited earlier today, and I regret to inform you that they were attacked earlier tonight. True to their word, they fought tooth and nail, perfectly capable by themselves, but the force that they were attacking just seemed to outsmart them.**

**Despite having two full days to devise a strategy, the creatures still managed to sneak up on them. Me and the others at the outpost could see the flames from afar and we knew they were under attack, so we went to help them.**

**I was attacked a few times, but I never engaged in combat with them. All I saw were a few flashes and a shadow of a figure that was gone before I could even acknowledge what I was seeing. The entire village was running in and out of the church, swinging weapons and treating injuries. I myself helped a young woman with a sprained ankle back to the church, where I entrusted her with her father.**

**It wasn’t long after that until I noticed that the attacks were dying down. The shadows appeared less and less and the more people were being dragged into the church by villagers who were screaming and crying. One of them finally reported the matter to our lead guard and led him into the church. After a few seconds, he came back out and sent me back here on the matter of urgency on account that someone had been murdered.**

Arthur bit his lip, slowly placing the parchment back down on the table, vaguely aware of Gaius taking it off him to give to Merlin. That village. The village that had declared itself able to protect itself. Immediately, Arthur’s doubts came flooding back. Had it been the right decision to turn and leave? Should he have helped them, even if it would have made the leader hate him more?

More than ever, Arthur had to do something. He wasn’t any good to anyone just sat there. It didn’t matter if the leader hated him or not, right now that village needed support and he was going to be the one to give it. It was about time he started acting like a King.

With a stone set face of determination, Arthur rose from his seat. In his peripherals, he could see Merlin attempt to do the same, only clutch his side in a wince of pain and fall back onto his pillows shortly after. 

Arthur watched as Gaius slapped Merlin’s shoulder, a reminder that he wasn’t yet allowed out of bed. Arthur shot him an apologetic smile before Merlin rolled his eyes and shooed him away. He was exactly three steps out of the physicians chambers when he felt Gaius’ hand on his shoulder.

That was odd. Why was it so cold?

Arthur looked down to see that his chest was still bare, and that he had in fact forgotten to put clothes on.

Ah.

O=II===========>

After he had managed (struggled) to get into his clothes, Arthur stormed out of his chambers and towards the stables, knowing that Gwaine, Lancelot and the rest of the knights would already be there, as he had sent the young soldier that had burst into his room down to the barracks to wake them up while he had gotten dressed.

As he walked down to the stables, his thoughts, as they usually did when he was alone, became grim. Who was that poor girl who had gotten murdered? Out of a full village of people, why did it have to be her? From what the soldier had said in his report, it seemed like the creatures had a complete advantage when attacking them, so why didn’t they   
injure anyone else? Why did they choose to kill that girl?

Itching with questions that Arthur knew he wasn’t going to get the answer to, Arthur entered the stables to see his knights all packed up and ready to go, dire expressions on their faces. Despite the situation, Arthur felt a short burst of pride at the sight of his knights. They weren’t asking questions, weren’t slowing them down. All they wanted was to put things right almost as much as he did.

With a final kick to his horses sides, Arthur rode off into the night.


End file.
